pure

See also: puré and purè

English

Etymology

From Middle English pur, from Old French pur, from Latin purus (“clean, free from dirt or filth, unmixed, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *peu-, *pu- (“to cleanse, purify”). Displaced native Middle English lutter (“pure, clear, sincere”) (from Old English hlūtor, hluttor), Middle English skere (“pure, sheer, clear”) (from Old English scǣre and Old Norse skǣr), Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English scīr), Middle English smete, smeate (“pure, refined”) (from Old English smǣte; compare Old English mǣre (“pure”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pjʊə/, /pjɔː/
• Rhymes: -ʊə(r), -ɔː(ɹ)
• (US) IPA^(key): /pjɔɹ/, /pjʊɚ/, /pjɝ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

pure (comparative purer or more pure, superlative purest or most pure)

1. Free of flaws or imperfections; unsullied.
   • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)

     Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records.

2. ​Free of foreign material or pollutants.
   • Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

     A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy.

3. Free of immoral behavior or qualities; clean.
   • Bible, 1 Timothy v. 22

     Keep thyself pure.

4. (of a branch of science) Done for its own sake instead of serving another branch of science.
   • 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, The Economist, volume 411, number 8892: 

     The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.

5. (phonetics) Of a single, simple sound or tone; said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.
6. (of sound) Without harmonics or overtones; not harsh or discordant.

Synonyms

• perfect
• innocent
• See also Wikisaurus:pure

Antonyms

• impure, contaminated
• (done for its own sake): applied

Derived terms

• pure finder
• as pure as the driven snow

Related terms

• purification
• purify
• purity
• puritan
• puritanism
• purist
• purism

Translations

free of flaws or imperfections

• Arabic: (indefinite) صافٍ (Saafin), (definite) الصافي (al-Saafiy)
• Armenian: անարատ (anarat)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: чы́сты m (čýsty)
• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 純潔 (zh), 纯洁 (zh) (chúnjié), 純 (zh), 纯 (zh) (chún), 純凈, 纯净 (zh) (chúnjìng), 純粹, 纯粹 (zh) (chúncuì)

• Czech: čistý (cs)
• Dutch: puur (nl), rein (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: puhas (et), veatu
• Finnish: virheetön (fi)
• French: pur (fr)
• Georgian: სრულყოფილი (srulqop’ili)
• German: pur (de), rein (de)
• Greek: άψογος (el) (ápsogos)
• Hebrew: טָהוֹר (tahor)
• Hindi: शुद्ध (śuddh)
• Hungarian: tiszta (hu)
• Icelandic: hreinn (is)
• Ido: pura (io)
• Italian: puro (it), mero (it) m
• Japanese: (+ な -na) 純粋 (ja) (じゅんすい, junsui), (+ な -na) 清らか (きよらか, kiyoraka)

• Jèrriais: pur
• Korean: 맑다 (ko) (makda)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

  Sorani: په‌تی (ku) (peti), ڕه‌سه‌ن (resen)

• Latin: purus
• Latvian: tīrs
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: takarepakore
• Norwegian: pur, ren
• Old Church Slavonic: чистъ (čistŭ)
• Persian: پاک (fa) (pâk), ناب (fa) (nâb)
• Polish: czysty (pl)
• Portuguese: puro (pt)
• Romanian: pur (ro), curat (ro) m, n
• Russian: чистый (ru) (čístyj)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: cysty

• Spanish: puro (es)
• Swedish: pur (sv), ren (sv)
• Thai: บริสุทธิ์ (th) (borrísòot)
• Turkish: temiz (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: pur (cy)

free of foreign material or pollutants

• Arabic: صاف (ʂāfin)
• Armenian: անարատ (anarat)
• Belarusian: чы́сты m (čýsty)
• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Chinese: 纯的 (chún de)
• Czech: ryzí m
• Dutch: puur (nl), onverontreinigd
• Estonian: puhas (et)
• Finnish: puhdas (fi)
• French: pur (fr)
• Georgian: სუფთა (sup’t’a)
• German: rein (de)
• Greek: καθαρός (el) (katharós)
• Hungarian: tiszta (hu)
• Icelandic: hreinn (is)
• Interlingua: pur
• Italian: puro (it)
• Japanese: 純粋な (じゅんすいな, junsui na)
• Jèrriais: pur

• Korean: 맑다 (ko) (makda), 순수한 (sunsuhan)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

  Sorani: ڕوون (rún)

• Latin: purus
• Latvian: tīrs
• Malay: tulen
• Maori: parakore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ren, rein (no)

  Nynorsk: rein

• Portuguese: puro (pt)
• Russian: чистый (ru) (čístyj)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: cysty

• Spanish: puro (es)
• Swedish: ren (sv)
• Thai: บริสุทธิ์ (th) (borrísòot)

free of immoral behavior or qualities; clean

• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Dutch: puur (nl)
• Estonian: puhas (et), siiras
• Finnish: viaton (fi), puhdas (fi)
• Georgian: უბიწო (ubico)
• Greek: αγνός (el) (agnós)

  Ancient: ἁγνός (hagnós)

• Italian: puro (it)
• Japanese: 純粋な (じゅんすいな, junsui na)
• Korean: 맑다 (ko) (makda)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ڕه‌سه‌ن (resen)

• Latin: purus
• Latvian: tīrs, šķīsts, nevainīgs
• Maori: matatika
• Portuguese: puro (pt)
• Romanian: pur (ro), cast (ro)
• Swedish: pur (sv), renhjärtad, ren (sv)
• Thai: บุญ (th) (bun)
• Uzbek: soʻm (uz)

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.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} pastër
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} glan
• Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} puro
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} puur, ^{(please verify)} zuiver, ^{(please verify)} rein
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} pura

• German: ^{(please verify)} pur, ^{(please verify)} rein, ^{(please verify)} sauber
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} pur
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} purus, ^{(please verify)} putus
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} puro m, ^{(please verify)} pura f
• Telugu: స్వఛ్ఛమైన (swaChChamaina)

Adverb

pure (comparative more pure, superlative most pure)

1. (Liverpudlian) to a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly.

   You’re pure busy.

Translations

extremely

• Dutch: zeer (nl)
• Portuguese: bem (pt)

• Swedish: sjukt (sv), galet (sv), äkta (sv)

External links

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

Anagrams

• Peru, Prue, puer, re-up

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Danish

Etymology 1

From Latin pūre, the adverb of pūrus (“clean, pure”); or the definite form of pur (“pure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /puːrə/, [ˈpʰuːɐ̯]

Adjective

pure (indeclinable)

1. complete
2. (adverbial) completely

Etymology 2

See pur (“pure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /puːrə/, [ˈpʰuːɐ̯]

Adjective

pure

1. definite of pur
2. plural form of pur

Etymology 3

From French purée (“puree”).

Alternative forms

• puré

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pyre/, [pʰyˈʁæ]

Noun

pure c (singular definite pureen, plural indefinite pureer)

1. puree

Inflection

Inflection of pure

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	pure	pureen	pureer	pureerne
genitive	pures	pureens	pureers	pureernes

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Esperanto

Adverb

pure

1. purely

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Finnish

Verb

pure

1. Indicative present connegative form of purra.
2. Second-person singular imperative present form of purra.
3. Second-person singular imperative present connegative form of purra.

Anagrams

• Peru, peru

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French

Adjective

pure

1. feminine form of pur

Anagrams

• peur
• puer
• repu
• rupe, rupé

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German

Adjective

pure

1. inflected form of pur

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Italian

Etymology 1

Adjective

pure pl

1. feminine plural of puro

Etymology 2

From Latin pūrē, the adverb of pūrus.

Adverb

pure

1. too, also, as well
2. well, surely
3. please, by all means
4. if you like; if you want (etc.)

   (with third-person subjunctive) Parli pure: let him speak if he likes

   (with imperative) Parla pure: speak if you like

   (with formal subjunctive-imperative) Lei parli pure: speak if you like

Synonyms

• (too): anche

Conjunction

pure

1. even though, even if, although
2. nevertheless

Anagrams

• Perù
• prue
• rupe

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Latin

Etymology 1

From pūrus (“clean; pure”) and -e (“-ly, -ily”).

Adverb

pūrē

1. clearly, brightly, cleanly
2. correctly, faultlessly, perfectly, purely ^syn.

   Loqui pure.

   To speak correctly.

Synonyms

• (correctly ^def.): ēmendātē

Etymology 2

Noun

pūre

1. ablative singular of pūs

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Rapa Nui

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *pule.

Noun

pure

1. cowrie

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Swedish

Adjective

pure

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of pur.