jeer

See also: jéér

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Australian) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒiə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒiɹ/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From earlier gyr, probably from Dutch gieren (“to roar with laughter, laugh loudly”) (related to German gieren (“to gape, snap”)); or from Dutch gekscheren (“to jeer”, literally “to shear the fool”), from gek (“a fool”) (see geck) + scheren (“to shear”) (see shear (verb)). The OED states no verifiable connection to English cheer.

Noun

jeer (plural jeers)

1. A mocking remark or reflection.

   Synonyms: scoff, taunt, flout, jibe, mockery

   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, The Fable of Midas, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol XII, Sir Walter Scott, ed., Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1824, pages 302-5,

     Midas, exposed to all their jeers, Had lost his art, and kept his ears.

Translations

mocking remark

• Belarusian: здзек (zdzjek)
• Bulgarian: подигравка (bg) f (podigravka)
• Catalan: burleria f
• Czech: posměšek m
• Finnish: pilkka (fi)
• French: moquerie (fr) f, raillerie (fr) f
• Georgian: დაცინვა (dacinva), მასხრად აგდება (masxrad agdeba), გამასხარავება (gamasxaraveba)
• German: Spott (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: τωθασμός m (tōthasmós)

• Ingrian: pilkka
• Interlingua: burla, crito de derision
• Italian: scherno (it) m, scorno (it) m, burla (it) f, beffa (it) f
• Portuguese: zombaria (pt) f, escárnio (pt) m
• Russian: глумле́ние (ru) n (glumlénije), насме́шка (ru) f (nasméška)
• Scots: afftak
• Serbo-Croatian: poruga (sh) f
• Spanish: burlería
• Swedish: glåpord (sv) n, okvädingsord (sv) n
• Tagalog: atsoy
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: لطیفه (latife)

• Volapük: kof (vo)
• Walloon: glawe (wa) f, lawe (wa) f

Verb

jeer (third-person singular simple present jeers, present participle jeering, simple past and past participle jeered)

1. (intransitive, with at) To utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.

   Synonyms: laugh at, scoff, sneer; see also Thesaurus:sneer

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 21:

     But when he saw her toy, and gibe, and geare, / And passe the bonds of modest merimake, / Her dalliance he despisd, and follies did forsake.

   • 2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.

2. (transitive, archaic) To mock; treat with mockery; to taunt.

   Synonyms: deride, flout, gibe, mock, ridicule; see also Thesaurus:mock, Thesaurus:deride, Thesaurus:jeer at

   • 1625 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Staple of Newes. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     And if we cannot jeer them, we jeer ourselves.

Derived terms

• jeerer
• jeeringly
• jeerleader
• jeery
• outjeer

Translations

to scoff or mock

• Bulgarian: подигравам се (podigravam se), надсмивам се (nadsmivam se)
• Catalan: mofar-se (ca), fer befa, riure's (d'algú), fotre's (d'algú), escarnir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嘲笑 (zh) (cháoxiào), 嘲弄 (zh) (cháonòng)

• Czech: posmívat se
• Dutch: spotten (nl)
• Esperanto: moki, ŝerci
• Finnish: pilkata (fi), ilkkua (fi)
• French: moquer (fr), railler (fr)
• Georgian: დაცინვა (dacinva), გამასხარავება (gamasxaraveba), სასაცილოდ აგდება (sasacilod agdeba)
• German: spotten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: σκώπτω (skṓptō), χλευάζω (khleuázō)

• Interlingua: derider
• Italian: deridere (it), schernire (it), motteggiare (it), sbeffeggiare (it)
• Japanese: 冷やかす (ja) (ひやかす, hiyakasu), 野次る (ja) (やじる, yajiru), 嘲る (ja) (あざける, azakeru)
• Latin: cavillor
• Latvian: ņirgāties (lv)
• Māori: pepehatū, pehapehatū, whakatea, taunu
• Polish: wyśmiewać (pl), kpić (pl)
• Portuguese: zombar (pt), escarnecer (pt), ridicularizar (pt)
• Russian: насмеха́ться (ru) (nasmexátʹsja) (над (nad) + instrumental case) impf, pf, глуми́ться (ru) (glumítʹsja) (над (nad) + instrumental case) impf, высме́ивать (ru) impf (vysméivatʹ), вы́смеять (ru) (výsmejatʹ) (transitive) impf
• Scottish Gaelic: mag
• Serbo-Croatian: rugati se (sh)
• Spanish: burlarse (es), abuchear (es)
• Swedish: häckla (sv), pika (sv), smäda (sv)
• Vietnamese: chế giễu (vi)
• Volapük: kofön (vo)

Etymology 2

Compare gear.

Noun

jeer (plural jeers)

1. (nautical) A gear; a tackle.
2. (nautical, in the plural) An assemblage or combination of tackles, for hoisting or lowering the yards of a ship.
   • 1984, James Lees, The masting and rigging of English ships of war, 1625-1860, page 65:

     In the nineteenth century, 1811 to be exact, the jeers were unrove after the yard was slung, the weight of the yard being borne by chain slings. The jeers used then were a treble block lashed to the mast head through a hole in the center of the top

Derived terms

• jeer capstan

Translations

gear; tackle

• German: Fall (de) n
• Italian: paranco (it) m, cavo (it) m, drizza (it) f

nautical: assemblage for hoisting yards

• Finnish: taljasto

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish dír (“due, fit, proper”).

Adverb

jeer

1. indeed, verily, truly, actually

   Jeer cha nel!

   Indeed it is not!

Related terms

• jeeragh
• jeerid
• jeerys

Mutation

Mutation of jeer

radical	lenition	eclipsis
jeer	yeer	n'yeer

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• jäär
• juar (Föhr-Amrum)
• djooar (Heligoland)
• iir (Mooring)
• Jaar (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian iēr, from Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year”).

Noun

jeer

1. (Goesharde) year

Semai

Alternative forms

• jer

Etymology

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɟur ~ *ɟuur ~ *ɟuər ~ *ɟir ~ *ɟiər (“to descend”). Cognate with Central Mnong jư̆r, Khmu cùːr, Pear cer, Proto-Palaungic *ɟuːr.

Verb

jeer

1. to fall

Synonyms

• tegòh
• yòòk

Derived terms

• kijeer
• perjeer

Somali

Jeer.

Etymology

Unknown. Reinisch compares Amharic ጉማሬ (gumare) by analogy of Somali geel and Arabic جَمَل (jamal).

Cognate with Maay jeer, Aweer sheer, Jiiddu jiiré.

Pronunciation

• (Standard) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃʰɛ̄ɛ́rr̥]
• (Southern) IPA^(key): [ˈd͡ʒɛ̄ɛ́rr̥]
• Hyphenation: jeer

Noun

jeer f

1. hippopotamus

Inflection

declension of jeer
	singular
absolutive	jéer
nominative	jeeri
genitive	jeeréed
vocative	jeeryáhay

determiners of jeer
		singular
definite	non-remote	jeerta
	remote	jeertii
demonstrative	proximal	jeertan
	medial	jeertaas
	distal	jeerteer
	far distal	jeertoo
interrogative		jeertee
possessive	mine	jeertayda
	yours	jeertaada
	his	jeertiisa
	her	jeerteeda
	ours (excl.)	jeertayada
	ours (incl.)	jeerteena
	yours (pl.)	jeertiinna
	theirs	jeertooda

References

• Reinisch, Leo (1902), Die Somali-Sprache (in German), volume 2, Wien, Austria