tear

English

Etymology 1

From Old English teran, from Proto-Germanic *teranan.

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: tâ, IPA: /tɛə/, SAMPA: /tE@/
• (US) enPR: târ, IPA: /tɛɚ/, SAMPA: /tE@`/

• Audio (US), verb

  (file)

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past tore, past participle torn)

1. (transitive) To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
   • 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

     He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.

   He tore his coat on the nail.

2. (transitive, with off or out) To remove by tearing.

   Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.

3. (transitive, of structures, with down) to demolish

   The slums were torn down to make way for the new development

4. (intransitive) To become torn, especially accidentally.

   My dress has torn.

5. (intransitive) To move at excessive speed.

   He went tearing down the hill at 90 miles per hour.

Synonyms

• (break): rend, rip
• (remove by tearing): rip out, tear off, tear out

Related terms

• tearaway
• tear apart
• tear down
• tear into
• tear up
• that's torn it
• wear and tear
• retear

Translations

rend

Arabic: مزق (ar) (mázzaqa) Armenian: պատռել (hy) (patṙel), ճղել (hy) (č̣ġel) Catalan: estripar (ca), esquinçar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 撕 (cmn) (sī), 撕破 (cmn) (sīpò) Czech: roztrhnout Danish: flå (da), rive (da); revne (da) Dutch: scheuren (nl) Esperanto: ŝiri (eo) Finnish: repiä (fi) French: déchirer (fr) German: reißen (de), zerreißen (de) Hungarian: tép (hu), szakít (hu) Indonesian: robek, sobek, cabik, carik Irish: stróic (ga)

Italian: strappare (it) Japanese: 破る (ja) (やぶる, yabúru), 引き裂く (ja) (ひきさく, hikisáku) Korean: 찢다 (ko) (jjitda) Kurdish: دڕاندن Polish: drzeć (pl) Portuguese: rasgar (pt) Russian: рвать (ru) (rvat’) impf., порвать (ru) (porvát’) pf.; разрывать (ru) (razryvát’) impf., разорвать (ru) (razorvát’) pf. Slovene: raztrgati, strgati Spanish: rasgar (es) Swahili: machozi (sw) Swedish: riva (sv) Telugu: చినుగు (chinugu), తుంచు (tuMchu), చించు (ciMchu) Turkish: kırmak (tr) Yiddish: רײַסן (yi) (raysn)

remove by tearing

Armenian: պոկել (hy) (pokel) Czech: utrhnout, odtrhnout Esperanto: ŝiri (eo), elŝiri (eo) French: déchirer (fr), détacher (fr) German: herausreißen Hungarian: letép (hu), leszakít (hu) Korean: 찢어내다 (jjijeonaeda) Polish: odrywać (pl) Portuguese: destacar (pt), arrancar (pt)

Russian: отрывать (ru) (otryvát') impf., оторвать (ru) (otorvát') pf.; срывать (ru) (sryvát') impf., сорвать (ru) (sorvát') pf. Slovene: odtrgati Spanish: arrancar (es) Swahili: machozi (sw) Telugu: తుంచు (tuMchu) Turkish: koparmak (tr)

to demolish; to tear down

Czech: strhnout (cs) French: démolir (fr) Hungarian: lebont (hu), lerombol (hu) Portuguese: demolir (pt) Russian: разрушать (ru) (razrušát’), разрушить (ru) (razrúšit’); сносить (ru) (snosít’), снести (ru) (snestí)

Spanish: demoler (es) Swahili: machozi (sw)

become torn

Armenian: պատռվել (hy) (patṙvel), ճղվել (hy) (č̣ġvel) Catalan: esquinçar (ca), esgarrar (ca) Czech: roztrhnout se Finnish: revetä (fi), repeytyä (fi) French: se déchirer German: reißen (de) Hungarian: szakad (hu), elszakad (hu) Korean: 찢기다 (jjitgida)

Kurdish: دڕاو Russian: рваться (ru) (rvat’s’a) impf., порваться (ru) (porvát’s’a) pf. Slovene: strgati se Spanish: desgarrar (es) Swahili: machozi (sw) Turkish: yırtılmak (tr)

move at excessive speed

Hungarian: száguld (hu), repeszt (hu) Russian: нестись (ru) (nestís’) impf.

Noun

tear (plural tears)

1. A hole or break caused by tearing.

   A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.

Derived terms

• wear and tear

Translations

hole or break caused by tearing

Danish: flænge (da), rift (da) Dutch: scheur (nl) m. and f. German: Riss (de) m. Hungarian: szakadás (hu) Kurdish: دڕین

Portuguese: rasgo (pt) m., fenda (pt) f., buraco (pt) m. Russian: разрыв (ru) (razrýv) m. Swedish: reva (sv) c. Telugu: చిరుగు (chirugu)

Derived terms

• tearsheet

Etymology 2

A girl producing tears

Old English tēar, from an earlier form teahor, from Proto-Germanic *tahran, from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru- (“tears”). Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 (tagr).

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: tî, IPA: /tɪə/, SAMPA: /tI@/
• (US) enPR: tîr, IPA: /tɪɚ/, SAMPA: /tI@`/

• Audio (US), noun

  (file)

Noun

Wikipedia tear (plural tears)

1. A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.

   There were big tears rolling down Lisa's cheeks.

   Ryan wiped the tear from the paper he was crying on.

Derived terms

• crocodile tears
• shed a tear
• teardrop
• tear duct
• tearful
• tear up
• teary

Translations

drop of clear salty liquid from the eyes

Albanian: lot (sq) f. Arabic: دمع (ar) (damʕ) m., plural: دموع (ar) (dumūʕ) pl. Armenian: արցունք (hy) (arc'unk'), արտասուք (hy) (artasuk') Aromanian: lacãrmã f. Belarusian: сляза (be) (sljazá) f. Bulgarian: сълза (bg) (sǎlzá) f. Catalan: llàgrima f. Chinese: Mandarin: 淚 (cmn), 泪 (cmn) (lèi), 眼淚 (cmn), 眼泪 (cmn) (yǎnlèi) Czech: slza (cs) f. Danish: tåre (da) Dutch: traan de Esperanto: larmo (eo) Estonian: pisar (et) Faroese: tár (fo) n. Finnish: kyynel (fi) French: larme (fr) f. Georgian: ცრემლი (ka) (tsremli) German: Träne (de) f. Greek: δάκρυ (el) (dákry) n. Gujarati: આંસૂં (ā.nsū.n) Hindi: आँसू (hi) (ā̃sū) m. Hungarian: könny (hu) Icelandic: tár (is) n. Indonesian: air mata Interlingua: lacrima (ia) Irish: deor (ga) m. Italian: lacrima (it) f. Japanese: 涙 (ja) (なみだ, namida) Kannada: ತುಂಡು (kn) Korean: 눈물 (ko) (nunmul) Kurdish: فرمێسک

Latin: lacrima (la) f. Latvian: asara (lv) f. Lithuanian: ašara (lt) f. Luxembourgish: Tréin (lb) f. Macedonian: солза (mk) (sólza) f. Maori: roimata (mi) Nahuatl: ixayotl Northern Sami: ganjal Norwegian: tårer (no) pl. Nynorsk: tåra (nn) Persian: اشک (fa) (ašk) Polish: łza (pl) f. Portuguese: lágrima (pt) f. Romanian: lacrimă (ro) f. Romansch: larma (rm) f. Russian: слеза (ru) (slezá) f., plural: слёзы (ru) (sljózy) f. pl. Scottish Gaelic: deur m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: суза (sh) f. Roman: suza (sh) f. Slovak: slza (sk) f. Slovene: solza (sl) f. Spanish: lágrima (es) f. Swahili: machozi (sw) Swedish: tår (sv) c. Tagalog: luha (tl) n. and c. Tajik: aшк (tg) Telugu: కన్నీటి బొట్టు (kanneeTi boTTu) Thai: น้ำตา (th) (nam-dtaa) Turkish: gözyaşı (tr) Ukrainian: сльоза (uk) (sl'ozá) f. Urdu: آنسو (ur) (ā̃sū) m. Vietnamese: nước mắt (vi)

Verb

tear (third-person singular simple present tears, present participle tearing, simple past and past participle teared)

1. (intransitive) To produce tears

   Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.

Translations

To produce tears

French: verser une larme, larmoyer German: tränen (de) Hungarian: könnyezik (hu) Korean: 눈물짓다 (nunmul-jitda), 눈물흘리다 (nunmul-heullida)

Latvian: asarot (lv) Portuguese: chorar (pt) Swahili: machozi (sw)

Anagrams

• rate
• tare

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tæːaɹ/

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *tahran. Germanic cognates include Old Frisian tār, Old High German zahar (German Zähre, originally plural), Old Norse tár (Swedish tår).

Noun

tēar m.

1. tear (drop of liquid from the tear duct)

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Portuguese

Etymology

From teia +‎ -ar

Noun

tear m. (plural teares)

1. loom

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West Frisian

Noun

tear

1. tar