χείρ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰesr- (“hand”). Cognate with Old Armenian ձեռն (jeṙn), Albanian dorë (“hand”), Tocharian A tsar, and Latin hīr (“hand”).

Pronunciation

• (5th BC Attic): IPA: /kʰe͜ér/

• (1st BC Egyptian): IPA: /kʰiːr/

• (4th AD Koine): IPA: /xir/

• (10th AD Byzantine): IPA: /çir/

• (15th AD Constantinopolitan): IPA: /çiɾ/

Noun

χείρ (genitive χειρός) f, third declension; (kheir)

1. hand

Inflection

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ χείρ	τὼ χεῖρε	αἱ χεῖρες
Genitive	τῆς χειρός	τοῖν χεροῖν	τῶν χειρῶν
Dative	τῇ χειρί	τοῖν χεροῖν	ταῖς χερσί(ν)
Accusative	τὴν χεῖρα	τὼ χεῖρε	τὰς χεῖρας
Vocative	χείρ	χεῖρε	χεῖρες

Descendants

• English: chiro-, chiral, chirality
• Greek: χειρ (cheir), χέρι (chéri)
• Latin: hīr

References

• Woodhouse’s English-Greek Dictionary page 382