alter

See also Alter, and älter

English

Alternative forms

• altre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French alterer (French altérer), from Medieval Latin alterare (“to make other”), from Latin alter (“the other”), from al- (seen in alius (“other”), alienus (“of another”), etc.; see alias, alien, etc.) + compar. suffix -ter.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːltə(ɹ)
• Homophone: altar

Verb

alter (third-person singular simple present alters, present participle altering, simple past and past participle altered)

1. (transitive) To change the form or structure of.
2. (intransitive) To become different.
3. (transitive) To tailor clothes to make them fit.
4. (transitive) To castrate, neuter or spay (a dog or other animal).

Derived terms

• alterer
• alterability
• alterative
• alterable
• alterably

Related terms

• alteration
• alternate
• alternative

Translations

to change the form or structure of

• Arabic: غير (ar) (ġayyara)
• Asturian: alteriar (ast), alterar (ast)
• Bulgarian: променям (bg) (proménjam), изменям (bg) (izménjam)
• Catalan: alterar (ca)
• Galician: alterar (gl)
• German: abändern (de)
• Italian: cambiare (it)
• Japanese: 変える (ja) (かえる, kaeru), 変更する (ja) (へんこうする, henkō suru), 直す (ja) (なおす, naosu)
• Korean: 변경하다 (ko) (byeongyeonghada), 바꾸다 (ko) (bakkuda), 개조하다 (ko) (gaejohada), 달라지다 (ko) (dallajida), 변경되다 (ko) (byeongyeongdoeda), 고치다 (ko) (gochida), 거세하다 (ko) (geosehada)
• Old English: wendan (ang)

• Oriya: ବଦଳାଇବା (or)
• Polish: zmieniać (pl), zmienić (pl), przerabiać (pl), przerobić (pl)
• Romanian: modifica (ro), schimba (ro), altera (ro), altul (ro)
• Russian: изменять (ru) (izmenjátʹ) impf., изменить (ru) (izmenítʹ) pf., менять (ru) (menjátʹ) impf., поменять (ru) (pomenjátʹ) pf., переделывать (ru) (peredélyvatʹ) impf., переделать (ru) (peredélatʹ) pf.
• Scottish Gaelic: mùth (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изменити (sh), променити (sh)

  Latin: izmeniti (sh), promeniti (sh)

• Spanish: alterar (es), cambiar (es), modificar (es)

External links

• alter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• alter in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• alert
• artel
• later
• ratel
• taler

---

Danish

Wikipedia ^da

Etymology

From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altare (“altar”), cognates with Icelandic altari.

Noun

alter n (singular definite altret or alteret, plural indefinite altre)

1. altar

Inflection

    Inflection of alter

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	alter	altret alteret	altre	altrene
genitive	alters	altrets alterets	altres	altrenes

---

German

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʔaltɐ/

Adjective

alter

1. inflected form of alt

---

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂élteros (“the other of two”). Akin to alius.

Adjective

alter m (feminine altera, neuter alterum); first/second declension

1. the other, the second

Inflection

Mixed declensions (1, 2, & 3). Irregular in that the singular genitive ends in -īus and the singular dative in -ī.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	M.	F.	N.		MM.	FF.	NN.
nominative	alter	altera	alterum		alterī	alterae	altera
genitive	alterīus	alterīus	alterīus		alterōrum	alterārum	alterōrum
dative	alterī	alterī	alterī		alterīs	alterīs	alterīs
accusative	alterum	alteram	alterum		alterōs	alterās	altera
ablative	alterō	alterā	alterō		alterīs	alterīs	alterīs
vocative	alter	altera	alterum		alterī	alterae	altera

Descendants

Aromanian: altu Catalan altre Dalmatian: jultro French: autre Friulian: altri Galician: outro Italian: altro Jèrriais: aut'

Occitan: autre Portuguese: outro Romanian: alt Romansch: auter Sardinian: àteru Sicilian: àutru Spanish: otro Welsh: ail

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

Wikipedia ^no

alter

1. alter

Inflection

	singular	plural
indefinite	alter	altre
definite	alteret	altrene

---