pair en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈpɜː/ Lancashire, fair–fur merger
- pâr (Canada, General-American)
- /ˈpeə/ (New-Zealand) without the cheer–chair merger
- audio Queensland
- pâr (Received-Pronunciation)
- /peː/ (Australia)
- /pɛə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈpiə/ New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
- /pɛɹ/ (Canada, General-American)
- (California) audio
- /ˈpeɹ/ (Scotland)
Etymology
From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of par (“pair”). Related to pār (“equal”, adjective). Compare Saterland Frisian Poor (“pair”), West Frisian pear (“pair”), Dutch paar (“pair”), German Paar (“pair”), Italian paio (“pair”)
Meanings
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Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.
2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:Ting, ting, ting! went the bell again. Every body sat down; the curtain shook, rose sufficiently high to display several pair of yellow boots paddling about, and there it remained.
1834 February, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter II, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836, →OCLC, page 266:Day after day, with the stamp and shuffle of sixty pair of bare feet behind me, each pair under a 60-lb. load.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 209:I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
So, one evening, I made a speech in English with gestures, not one of which was lost to the sixty pairs of eyes before me, and the next morning I started the hammock off in front all right.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 210:
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Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of. ▸ One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
Must be good at athletics, home repairs, making mince interesting and finding the pair to the other glove.
1996, Kathy Lette, Mad Cows, page 219:[S]he had finished the second sock, and pulled its pair out of the bag before handing them to her husband.
1992, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Marking Time: Volume 2 of The Cazalet Chronicle, page 74:
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Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
Spouses should make a great pair.
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Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).
a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
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A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.
- A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
- A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
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(informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play.
They turned a pair to end the fifth.
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(informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams.
The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.
- A boat for two sweep rowers.
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(slang) A pair of breasts.
She's got a gorgeous pair.
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(slang) A pair of testicles.
Grow a pair, mate.
- (Australia) The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
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Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.
There were two pairs on the final vote.
One-line business is optional; three-line business compulsory; when it's two lines you have to be on parade unless you have secured a 'pair' and cleared it with the 'pairing whip'.
1999, Gyles Brandreth, chapter 3, in Breaking the Code:
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(archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
Thou lieſt; I ha’ nothing buy my ſkin, / And my cloaths; my ſword here, and my ſelf; / Two Crowns in my pocket; two pair of Cards; / And three falſe Dice: I can ſwim like a fiſh / Raſcal, nothing to hinder me.
c. 1622, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Sea-Voyage. A Comedy.”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 341:It would never do, you know, for me to be plunging myself into poverty and shabbiness and love in one room up three pair of stairs, and all that sort of thing.
1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “Comprises, among Other Important Matters, Pecksniffian and Architectural, an Exact Relation of the Progress Made by Mr. Pinch in the Confidence and Friendship of the New Pupil”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 74:
- In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, sliding pair, twisting pair.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pair | Number=Plur | archaic, dialectal | lexicographic |
| pairs | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
near-minimal pair · pair of shears · in pairs · contrapair · safe pair of hands · Church pair · pair of stepladders · pair of forceps · pairwork · pair of ladders · subpair · conjugate redox pair · pair of tweezers · Sziklai pair · on a pair · twin prime pair · bottom pair · pair programming · king pair · slot pair · twisted pair · Cooper pair · pair production · pair of hands · orthopair · pair of shoes · inert pair effect · pair royal · pair of eyeglasses · royal pair · acid-base pair · pair of stairs · electron pair · underpair · pigeon pair · pair programmer · kilobase pair · byte pair encoding · pair of sunglasses · dispair · pair of colours · coxless pair · fresh pair of eyes · pocket pair · pair of goggles · live pair · pair of pliers · force pair · pairwise · pair of nutcrackers · pair of glasses · have a pair · Hoogsteen base pair · pair-oar(ed) · megabase pair · Darlington pair · Breit-Wheeler pair production · top pair · unpair · intrapair · pair of specs · conjugate acid-base pair · one pair · extrapair · show a clean pair of heels · pairbreaking · keypair · linear pair · strap on a pair · pair of pants · interpair · pair of scissors · golden pair · pair of colors · think-pair-share · pair of compasses · alpha pair · pair of shades · middle pair · get a pair · Kramers pair · one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen · pair of secateurs · pair-horse · base pair · pair of pincers · lone pair · stereopair · pair bonding · pair of trousers · carriage and pair · pair bond · inversion pair · Lax pair · post and pair · pair skating · base-pair breathing · pair of tongs · pair and share · pair of binoculars · aspectual pair · grow a pair · rarepair · shielded twisted pair · eigenpair · minimal pair · surrogate pair · multipair · extra pair of hands · another pair of shoes · think-pair-sharing · pair of underwear · kernel pair · overpair · ordered pair · pairforming · photopair · homologous pair
Descendants
Synonyms
duo (two objects in a group) · spectacles · dyad · duplet · pair of spectacles · couple · brace · twosome
Translations (255)
cy pâr (two similar or identical things) · nl stel (two people in a relationship) · pl para (couple of working animals attached to work together) · bg дво́йка (two people in a relationship) · fa زوج (two similar or identical things) · ota چفت (two people in a relationship) · cmn 對 /对 (two similar or identical things) · ru чета́ (two people in a relationship) · ota چفت (two similar or identical things) · dz ཆ (two similar or identical things) · fi daisarit (slang: pair of breasts) · kum эки (two similar or identical things) · fr paire (two similar or identical things) · qu t'inki (two similar or identical things) · pl stadło (two people in a relationship) · ms pasangan (two people in a relationship) · fi pari (two people in a relationship) · ar زَوْج (two similar or identical things) · lv pāris (two people in a relationship) · el ζευγάρι (two people in a relationship) · mr जोडी (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ky кош (two similar or identical things) · nl brilstand (cricket score) · vi đôi (two similar or identical things) · es par (two similar or identical things) · nrf pathe (used with binary nouns) · ro pereche (two similar or identical things) · sa द्वंद्व (two people in a relationship) · nl paar (two people in a relationship) · cmn 雙 /双 (two similar or identical things) · eo duopo (two people in a relationship) · is tvenna (poker hand) · cs pár (two similar or identical things) · ota زوج (two similar or identical things) · ko 한쌍 (couple of working animals attached to work together) · uk па́ра (two similar or identical things) · mi tōpū (two people in a relationship) · yai ҷуфт (two similar or identical things) · ca parell (couple of working animals attached to work together) · sl par (poker hand) · cmn 夫婦 /夫妇 (two people in a relationship) · grc ζεῦγος (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ro pereche (used with binary nouns) · cmn 一對 /一对 (two people in a relationship) · eu biko (two similar or identical things) · ru па́ра (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · nl koppel (two similar or identical things) · grc ζεῦγος (two people in a relationship) · ug پار (two similar or identical things) · my အတွဲ (two similar or identical things) · sv par (two similar or identical things) · grc ζεῦγος (two similar or identical things) · fr paire (used with binary nouns) · mos yɩɩbse (two similar or identical things) · ug جۈپ (two similar or identical things) · my ယမက (two similar or identical things) · ota چفت (couple of working animals attached to work together) · nl koppel (two people in a relationship) · mr जोडी (two people in a relationship) · ur جوڑا (two similar or identical things) · cs pár (used with binary nouns) · ja 一対 (couple of working animals attached to work together) · sk pár (two similar or identical things) · ps زوج (two similar or identical things) · he זוּג (two people in a relationship) · ja 対偶 (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · ja ペア (two similar or identical things) · ko 짝 (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · ro pereche (couple of working animals attached to work together) · enm paire (two people in a relationship) · gd dithis (two people in a relationship) · mi takirua (two people in a relationship) · ru дво́йка (couple of working animals attached to work together) · arz جوز (two similar or identical things) · is par (two similar or identical things) · ca parella (two people in a relationship) · gl par (two similar or identical things) · mk пар (two similar or identical things) · el ζευγάρι (poker hand) · kum жут (two similar or identical things) · mk чифт (two similar or identical things) · ka წყვილი (two people in a relationship) · ca parella (two similar or identical things) · lo ຄູ່ (two similar or identical things) · atv тӧй (two similar or identical things) · es par (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · bg чифт (couple of working animals attached to work together) · fi pari (two similar or identical things) · rup pãreaclje (two similar or identical things) · lb Puer (two similar or identical things) · fur pâr (two similar or identical things) · ga cuingir (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ja 対 (two similar or identical things) · it coppia (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · he צֶמֶד (two similar or identical things) · sh пар (two similar or identical things) · de Gelenk (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · nap paro (two similar or identical things) · fa جفت (two similar or identical things) · kk жұп (two similar or identical things) · ky жуп (two similar or identical things) · hi जोड़ा (two similar or identical things) · ru па́ра (two similar or identical things) · ru па́ра (two people in a relationship) · sw jozi (two similar or identical things) · ca parell (two similar or identical things) · nl tweespan (couple of working animals attached to work together) · it paio (two similar or identical things) · tsg pasang (two similar or identical things) · ru па́ра (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ko 한쌍 (two people in a relationship) · my ဒွေးဘော် (two similar or identical things) · de Paar (two people in a relationship) · nrf pathe (two people in a relationship) · lv pāris (two similar or identical things) · fr paire (poker hand) · cs dvojice (two people in a relationship) · msk paris (two similar or identical things) · it pariglia (couple of working animals attached to work together) · he צֶמֶד (two people in a relationship) · ota قوش (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ja 一対 (two people in a relationship) · ko 한쌍 (two similar or identical things) · zza cıt (diq) (two similar or identical things) · tr çift (couple of working animals attached to work together) · cs pár (two people in a relationship) · fi pari (used with binary nouns) · sl par (two similar or identical things) · gd caigeann (couple of working animals attached to work together) · lt pora (two similar or identical things) · rup zivyari (two similar or identical things) · da par (two similar or identical things) · ka წყვილი (two similar or identical things) · rm pèra (two similar or identical things) · hu pár (two similar or identical things) · vi cặp (two people in a relationship) · kjh хос (two similar or identical things) · rup uidii (two similar or identical things) · el ζεύγος (two similar or identical things) · ca parell (used with binary nouns) · he זוּג (used with binary nouns) · kum чер (two similar or identical things) · enm paire (used with binary nouns) · ja 一組 (two similar or identical things) · fr paire (two people in a relationship) · fro couple (two similar or identical things) · pt par (used with binary nouns) · bg дво́йка (two similar or identical things) · la par (two similar or identical things) · fi parivaljakko (couple of working animals attached to work together) · gd càraid (two people in a relationship) · arz اجواز (two similar or identical things) · it coppia (poker hand) · tr çift (two people in a relationship) · bg чифт (two similar or identical things) · yi פּאָר (two similar or identical things) · gd càraid (two similar or identical things) · cmn 對 /对 (two similar or identical things) · enm paire (couple of working animals attached to work together) · hy զույգ (two similar or identical things) · pl dwójka (two people in a relationship) · ko 페어 (two similar or identical things) · nl duo (two similar or identical things) · alt кош (two similar or identical things) · mn хос (two similar or identical things) · bn জোড়া (two similar or identical things) · tk jübüt (two similar or identical things) · he זוּג (two similar or identical things) · enm paire (two similar or identical things) · el ζευγάρι (two similar or identical things) · mr जोडी (two similar or identical things) · tg ҷуфт (two similar or identical things) · sa द्वंद्व (two similar or identical things) · ru пара (used with binary nouns) · got 𐌲𐌰𐌾𐌿𐌺 (two similar or identical things) · eo paro (two similar or identical things) · pl dwoje (two people in a relationship) · ga beirt (two people in a relationship) · th คู่หนึ่ง (two people in a relationship) · uz par (two similar or identical things) · gd lànan (two similar or identical things) · uz juft (two similar or identical things) · pdt Poa (two similar or identical things) · nl tweetal (two similar or identical things) · ca parella (poker hand) · or ଜୋଡା (two similar or identical things) · cmn 一對 /一对 (two similar or identical things) · ja 一対 (two similar or identical things) · gd paidhir (two similar or identical things) · sa मिथुन (two people in a relationship) · sa मिथुन (two similar or identical things) · bg чифт (poker hand) · pl para (two people in a relationship) · ru па́ра (poker hand) · mi tōpū (two similar or identical things) · fro couple (used with binary nouns) · mr युगुल (two people in a relationship) · fi pari (poker hand) · cmn 雙 /双 (two similar or identical things) · nb par (two similar or identical things) · de Pärchen (two people in a relationship) · sh par (two similar or identical things) · haw paʻa (two similar or identical things) · is par (poker hand) · th คู่ (two similar or identical things) · oc parelh (two similar or identical things) · arz جوزين (two similar or identical things) · cmn 一雙 /一双 (two people in a relationship) · izh pari (used with binary nouns) · nrf pathe (two similar or identical things) · it coppia (two people in a relationship) · el ζεύγος (two people in a relationship) · kmr cot (two similar or identical things) · pl para (two similar or identical things) · mi tokorua (poker hand) · ko 켤레 (two similar or identical things) · izh pari (two similar or identical things) · ckb جووت (two similar or identical things) · gd cuingire (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ro pereche (two people in a relationship) · el ζευγάρι (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ps جوړه (two similar or identical things) · rup pãreaclji (two similar or identical things) · pl dwójka (couple of working animals attached to work together) · ota زوج (two people in a relationship) · hu pár (poker hand) · pt par (two people in a relationship) · nl paar (poker hand) · gd cuingear (couple of working animals attached to work together) · tr çift (two similar or identical things) · ga péire (two similar or identical things) · pt par (two similar or identical things) · cmn 啤 (two similar or identical things) · km គូ (two similar or identical things) · ja ペア (two people in a relationship) · rup giugii (two similar or identical things) · rm peera (two similar or identical things) · lv pāris (used with binary nouns) · az cüt (two similar or identical things) · hy զույգ (two people in a relationship) · nl paar (two similar or identical things) · ko 일대 (two people in a relationship) · et paar (two similar or identical things) · sq çift (two similar or identical things) · ro pereche (poker hand) · es pareja (two people in a relationship) · ga péire (poker hand) · vec pèr (two similar or identical things) · fr paire (couple of working animals attached to work together) · vi cặp (two similar or identical things) · he צֶמֶד (couple of working animals attached to work together) · mi tokorua (two people in a relationship) · be па́ра (two similar or identical things) · ko 면짝 (kinematics: two elements, which permit only certain kind of relative motion) · de Paar (two similar or identical things)