pair

English

Etymology 1

From Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of pār.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pâr, IPA: /peə(r)/, X-SAMPA: /pe@(r)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(r)
• Homophones: pare, pear

Noun

pair (plural pairs or pair)

1. Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.

   I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.

2. Two people in a relationship, partnership (especially sexual) or friendship.

   Spouses should make a great pair.

3. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plurale tantum)

   a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans

   but not a pair of cymbals

4. 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.

5. (card games) A poker hand that contains of two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
6. (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match
7. (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play

   They turned a pair to end the fifth.

8. (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams

   The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.

9. (slang) A pair of breasts

   She's got a gorgeous pair.

10. (Australia, politics) 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.

Synonyms

• duo
• (pair of breasts): See also Wikisaurus:breasts

Derived terms

• pair-horse
• pair-oar(ed)
• pair production
• pair skating
• king pair, royal pair
• on a pair

Translations

two similar or identical things

• Arabic: زوج (ar) (zawj) m
• Armenian: զույգ (hy) (zuyg)
• Aromanian: pãreaclje (rup), pãreaclji (rup), giugii (rup), uidii (rup), zivyari (rup)
• Belarusian: пара (be) (pára) f
• Catalan: parella (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙 (cmn), 双 (cmn) (shuāng), 對 (cmn), 对 (cmn) (duì), 一對 (cmn), 一对 (cmn) (yīduì)

• Czech: pár (cs) m
• Dutch: paar (nl) n, koppel (nl) n, duo (nl) n, tweetal (nl) n
• Esperanto: paro (eo)
• Finnish: pari (fi)
• French: paire (fr) f

  Old French: couple

• Friulian: pâr
• Galician: par m
• German: Paar (de) n
• Greek: ζευγάρι (el) (zevgári) n
• Hungarian: pár (hu)
• Irish: péire (ga) m

• Italian: paio (it) m
• Japanese: 対 (ja) (たい, tai), 一対 (ja) (いっつい, ittsui), 一組 (ja) (ひとくみ, hitokumi)
• Jèrriais: pathe f
• Korean: 한쌍 (ko) (hanssang)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: جووت

• Latvian: pāris (lv) m
• Luxembourgish: Puer (lb) n
• Occitan: parelh (oc)
• Portuguese: par (pt) m
• Romanian: pereche (ro)
• Romansch: pèra (rm) f, peera (rm) f
• Russian: пара (ru) (pára) f
• Scottish Gaelic: càraid (gd) f
• Spanish: par (es) m
• Swedish: par (sv) n
• Turkish: çift (tr)
• Ukrainian: пара (uk) (pára) f

two people in some relationship

• Armenian: զույգ (hy) (zuyg)
• Bulgarian: двойка (bg) (dvójka) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 夫婦 (cmn), 夫妇 (cmn) (fūfù), 一對 (cmn), 一对 (cmn) (yīduì), 一雙 (cmn), 一双 (cmn) (yīshuāng)

• Czech: dvojice (cs) f, pár (cs) m
• Dutch: paar (nl) n, koppel (nl) n, stel (nl) n
• Esperanto: duopo (eo)
• French: paire (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Paar (de) n, Pärchen (de) n

• Greek: ζευγάρι (el) (zevgári) n
• Japanese: カップル (ja) (kappuru), ペア (ja) (pea), 対 (ja) (つい, tsui), 一対 (ja) (いっつい, ittsui)
• Jèrriais: pathe f
• Latvian: pāris (lv) m
• Portuguese: par (pt) m
• Romanian: pereche (ro)
• Russian: пара (ru) (pára) f, (stilted, of married couples only) чета (ru) (četá) f
• Scottish Gaelic: càraid (gd) f, dithis (gd) f
• Turkish: çift (tr)

used in the names of some objects having two identical/complementary halves

• Czech: pár (cs) m
• French: paire (fr) f

  Old French: couple

• Jèrriais: pathe
• Latvian: pāris (lv) m
• Portuguese: par (pt) m

A couple of working animals attached to work together

• Dutch: tweespan n
• Greek: ζευγάρι (el) (zevgári) n

• Russian: двойка (ru) (dvójka) f, пара (ru) (pára) f
• Turkish: çift (tr)

Cards hand

• Dutch: paar (nl) n
• Hungarian: pár (hu)

• Icelandic: tvenna (is) f, par (is) n

Cricket score

• Dutch: brilstand n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• German: Paar n
• Italian: paio m (plural: paia f) (1,2)
• Vietnamese: đôi, cặp

Verb

pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)

1. (transitive) To group into sets of two.

   The wedding guests were paired boy-girl and groom's party-bride's party

2. (transitive) To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.

Derived terms

• pairing

Related terms

• pair off
• pair up
• parity

Translations

to group into sets of two

• Czech: párovat (cs)
• Dutch: paren (nl), koppelen (nl)

• Greek: ζευγαρώνω (el) (zevgaróno)
• Swedish: para (sv), para ihop (sv)

Etymology 2

Verb

pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)

1. (obsolete) To impair.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Anagrams

• PIRA

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Catalan

Verb

pair (first-person singular present paeixo, past participle paït)

1. to digest
2. to handle, to cope with

Conjugation

Conjugation of pair (third conjugation with -eix- infix)

infinitive			pair
present participle			paint
past participle			paït
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
Indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	paeixo	paeixes	paeix	païm	païu	paeixen
	imperfect	païa	païes	païa	paíem	paíeu	païen
	future	pairé	pairàs	pairà	pairem	paireu	pairan
	preterite	paí	païres	paí	paírem	paíreu	païren
	conditional	pairia	pairies	pairia	pairíem	pairíeu	pairien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells/elles
	present	paeixi	paeixis	paeixi	païm	païu	paeixin
	imperfect	país	païssis	país	paíssim	paíssiu	païssin
imperative		-	tu	ell/ella	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells/elles
		—	paeix	paeixi	païm	païu	paeixin

Synonyms

• digerir

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French

Etymology

From Latin par (“equal”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /pɛʁ/

Adjective

pair m (feminine paire, masculine plural pairs, feminine plural paires)

1. (number) even

Antonyms

• impair

Related terms

• parité

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

1. A peer, high nobleman/vassal (as in peer of the realm)
2. In tennis, the score deuce

Antonyms

• pari m

Anagrams

• pari
• pria
• ripa

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Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan) pér
• (Surmiran) peir

Etymology

From Latin pirum.

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) pear

Related terms

• paira
• pairer