instar

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English

WOTD – 14 December 2012, 14 December 2014

Etymology 1

An instar of the mayfly Cloeon dipterum

From Latin instar (“form, likeness”), which is of obscure origin.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈɪnstɑː/
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  • Hyphenation: in‧star
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

instar (plural instars)

  1. Any one of the several stages of postembryonic development which an arthropod undergoes, between molts, before it reaches sexual maturity.
  2. An arthropod at a specified one of these stages of development.
    • 2005, Nematodes as biocontrol agents, edited by Parwinder S. Grewal, Ralf-Udo Ehlers, David I. Shapiro-Ilan, (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 133:
      In A. orientalis, first and second instars were more susceptible than third instars to H. bacteriophora TF strain, […]
  3. (by extension) A stage in development.
    • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC:
      We avoided Tourist Homes, country cousins of Funeral ones, old-fashioned, genteel and showerless, with elaborate dressing tables in depressingly white-and-pink little bedrooms, and photographs of the landlady’s children in all their instars.
    • 2014 January 8, Caleb Crain, “The Democratic Personality”, in The New Yorker‎[2]:
      California spirituality is a late instar of America’s utopian impulse, and corporate meritocracy derives from the Whig dream of the self-made man that entranced young Abraham Lincoln.
Translations

Etymology 2

From in- +‎ star.

Pronunciation

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Verb

instar (third-person singular simple present instars, present participle instarring, simple past and past participle instarred)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To stud or adorn with stars or other brilliants; to star.
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    • 1893, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 72, page 507:
      Espey could distinguish through the clear darkness the fringed branches of a pine-tree clinging to the heights above and waving against the instarred sky, and below a vague moving whiteness […]
    • 1896, Mary Noailles Murfree (pseudonym Charles Egbert Craddock), In the Tennessee mountains, 14 edition, page 209:
      He was dreaming, surely; or were those deep, instarred eyes really fixed upon him with that wistful gaze which he had seen only twice before?
  2. (transitive) To make a star of; set as a star.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnstar (“equivalent”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃s.taʁ/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: in‧star

Noun

instar

  1. Only used in à l’instar de (“just like”)

Derived terms

Further reading

Latin

Etymology

Of obscure origin.[1][2] Perhaps from a metaphor meaning 'to stand close to', thereby semantically related to ἔχθαρ.[3]

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

Noun

īnstar n sg (indeclinable, no genitive)

  1. image, likeness, resemblance
  2. counterpart
  3. worth, value
  4. an equal form (of)
  5. of equal weight/size/form (to)
    • 1539 CE, Olaus Magnus, Carta Marina, marginal note.
      Quia, optime lector, Scandiana insula apud Plinium alter orbis terrarum, et a Iordane Gotho ac Paulo Diacono vagina sive officina gentium appellatur, plurimique populi (ut omnis scriptorum turba testatur) ex ea instar apum vel inundantium aquarum exiere, utile putavi nomina aliquarum gentium inde egressarum subiecta pagina indicare.
      Since, dear reader, the isle of Scandinavia is called another world in Pliny's works, and since it is called by Jordanes the Goth and Paul the Deacon a womb or manufacturing-room of ethnic groups, and since numerous peoples (as any group of scholars can attest) descended from there like a swarm of bees or floodwaters, I thought it useful to indicate, on the page below, the names of various ethnic groups that originated there.

Declension

Not declined; used only in the nominative and accusative singular, singular only.

Case Singular
Nominative īnstar
Genitive —
Dative —
Accusative īnstar
Ablative —
Vocative —

Descendants

  • → English: instar
  • → French: instar

References

  • “instar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “instar”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • instar in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  1. ^ Eduard Wölfflin, Archiv für Lateinische Lexikographie und Grammatik mit Einschluß des älteren Mittellateins, Band 2, pp. 581-597, [1]
  2. ^ Menge, Burkard, et al., Lehrbuch der lateinischen Syntax und Semantik, p. 13.
  3. ^ Puhvel, ‘Greek Ἔχϑαρ and Latin Instar’.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin īnstō (“urge, insist”) whence English instant.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /insˈtaɾ/ [ĩnsˈt̪aɾ]

Verb

instar (first-person singular present insto, first-person singular preterite insté, past participle instado)

  1. (intransitive) to urge (press someone to do something soon)
    Synonyms: urgir, apretar
  2. (transitive) to insist (repeat a plea)
    Synonym: insistir

Conjugation

    Conjugation of instar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)
infinitive instar
gerund instando
past participle masculine feminine
singular instado instada
plural instados instadas
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
indicative yo tú
vos 		él/ella/ello
usted 		nosotros
nosotras 		vosotros
vosotras 		ellos/ellas
ustedes
present insto instastú
instásvos 		insta instamos instáis instan
imperfect instaba instabas instaba instábamos instabais instaban
preterite insté instaste instó instamos instasteis instaron
future instaré instarás instará instaremos instaréis instarán
conditional instaría instarías instaría instaríamos instaríais instarían
subjunctive yo tú
vos 		él/ella/ello
usted 		nosotros
nosotras 		vosotros
vosotras 		ellos/ellas
ustedes
present inste instestú
instésvos2 		inste instemos instéis insten
imperfect
(ra) 		instara instaras instara instáramos instarais instaran
imperfect
(se) 		instase instases instase instásemos instaseis instasen
future1 instare instares instare instáremos instareis instaren
imperative — tú
vos 		usted nosotros
nosotras 		vosotros
vosotras 		ustedes
affirmative instatú
instávos 		inste instemos instad insten
negative no instes no inste no instemos no instéis no insten

1Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
2Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of instar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
with infinitive instar
dative instarme instarte instarle, instarse instarnos instaros instarles, instarse
accusative instarme instarte instarlo, instarla, instarse instarnos instaros instarlos, instarlas, instarse
with gerund instando
dative instándome instándote instándole, instándose instándonos instándoos instándoles, instándose
accusative instándome instándote instándolo, instándola, instándose instándonos instándoos instándolos, instándolas, instándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative insta
dative ínstame ínstate ínstale ínstanos not used ínstales
accusative ínstame ínstate ínstalo, ínstala ínstanos not used ínstalos, ínstalas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative instá
dative instame instate instale instanos not used instales
accusative instame instate instalo, instala instanos not used instalos, instalas
with formal second-person singular imperative inste
dative ínsteme not used ínstele, ínstese ínstenos not used ínsteles
accusative ínsteme not used ínstelo, ínstela, ínstese ínstenos not used ínstelos, ínstelas
with first-person plural imperative instemos
dative not used instémoste instémosle instémonos instémoos instémosles
accusative not used instémoste instémoslo, instémosla instémonos instémoos instémoslos, instémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative instad
dative instadme not used instadle instadnos instaos instadles
accusative instadme not used instadlo, instadla instadnos instaos instadlos, instadlas
with formal second-person plural imperative insten
dative ínstenme not used ínstenle ínstennos not used ínstenles, ínstense
accusative ínstenme not used ínstenlo, ínstenla ínstennos not used ínstenlos, ínstenlas, ínstense

Further reading

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