pure

See also: puré, purè, and purê

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English pure, pur, from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus (“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.

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

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

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

     Keep thyself pure.

5. (of a branch of science) Done for its own sake instead of serving another branch of science.
   • 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in 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     The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason.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.

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

Synonyms

• (free of flaws): see Thesaurus:pure
• (free of foreign material): see Thesaurus:raw
• (free of immoral behavior): innocent

Antonyms

• (free of flaws): dirty, flawed, impure
• (free of foreign material): contaminated, impure
• (free of immoral behavior): corrupt, guilty, sinful
• (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) صَافٍ‎‎ (ṣāfin), (definite) اَلصَّافِي‎‎ (aṣ-ṣāfī)
• Armenian: անարատ (hy) (anarat)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: чы́сты m (čýsty)
• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 純 (seon⁴)

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

• Czech: čistý (cs)
• Dutch: puur (nl), rein (nl)
• Esperanto: pura
• Estonian: puhas (et), veatu
• Finnish: puhdas (fi)
• French: pur (fr)
• Galician: puro
• Georgian: სრულყოფილი (srulq̇opili)
• German: pur (de), rein (de)
• Greek: άψογος (el) (ápsogos)
• Hebrew: טָהוֹר‎‎ (tahor)
• Hindi: शुद्ध (hi) (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)
• Korean: 맑다 (ko) (makda)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

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

• Latin: purus
• Latvian: tīrs (lv)
• Maltese: pur
• Maori: takarepakore, horomata
• Norman: pur
• 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: чи́стый (ru) (čístyj)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: cysty

• Spanish: puro (es)
• Swedish: pur (sv), ren (sv)
• Tagalog: tagnas
• Thai: บริสุทธิ์ (th) (bɔɔ-rí-sùt)
• Turkish: temiz (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: pur (cy)
• Westrobothnian: klank, klakk, glank, glakk
• Yiddish: ריין‎‎ (reyn)

free of foreign material or pollutants

• Arabic: (indefinite) صَافٍ‎‎ (ṣāfin), (definite) اَلصَّافِي‎‎ (aṣ-ṣāfī)
• Armenian: անարատ (hy) (anarat)
• Belarusian: чы́сты m (čýsty)
• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 純粹, ^{(please verify)} 纯粹 (chúncuì), 纯的 (chún de)

• Cornish: pur
• Czech: ryzí m
• Dutch: puur (nl), onverontreinigd, ^{(please verify)} klaar, ^{(please verify)} klinkklaar
• Esperanto: pura
• Estonian: puhas (et)
• Faroese: ^{(please verify)} reinur
• Finnish: puhdas (fi); pelkkä (fi), silkka (fi)
• French: pur (fr) m
• Galician: puro
• Georgian: სუფთა (supta)
• German: rein (de), ^{(please verify)} bloß (de), ^{(please verify)} schier (de)
• Greek: καθαρός (el) (katharós)
• Hungarian: tiszta (hu), ^{(please verify)} teljes (hu), ^{(please verify)} merő (hu), ^{(please verify)} puszta (hu)
• Icelandic: hreinn (is)
• Interlingua: pur
• Italian: puro (it)
• Japanese: 純粋な (ja) (じゅんすいな, junsui na)
• Korean: 맑다 (ko) (makda), 순수한 (sunsuhan)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

  Sorani: ڕوون‎‎ (rún)

• Latin: purus
• Latvian: tīrs (lv)
• Malay: tulen
• Maltese: pur
• Maori: parakore, horomata
• Norman: pur
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ren, rein (no), ^{(please verify)} ublandet

  Nynorsk: rein, ^{(please verify)} ublanda

• Persian: محض‎‎ (fa) (mahz)
• Polish: czysty (pl) m
• Portuguese: puro (pt)
• Romanian: sadea (ro)
• Russian: чи́стый (ru) (čístyj)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} čistý m, ^{(please verify)} číry m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: cysty

• Spanish: puro (es) m
• Swedish: ren (sv)
• Tagalog: tagnas
• Thai: บริสุทธิ์ (th) (bɔɔ-rí-sùt)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} saf (tr)
• Yiddish: ריין‎‎ (reyn)

free of immoral behavior or qualities; clean

• Catalan: pur (ca)
• Dutch: puur (nl)
• Estonian: puhas (et), siiras
• Finnish: viaton (fi), puhdas (fi)
• Georgian: უბიწო (ubic̣o)
• 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)

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

of a branch of science: done for its own sake

• Finnish: puhdas (fi)

• Maltese: pur

phonetics: of a single, simple sound or tone

• Finnish: puhdas (fi)

of sound: without harmonics or overtones

• Finnish: puhdas (fi), kirkas (fi)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#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 (not comparable)

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

   You’re pure busy.

   • 1996, Trainspotting (film)

     I just get pure shy with the interview cats.

Translations

extremely

• Dutch: zeer (nl)
• Finnish: erittäin (fi)

• Portuguese: bem (pt)
• Swedish: sjukt (sv), galet (sv), äkta (sv)

Verb

pure (third-person singular simple present pures, present participle puring, simple past and past participle pured)

1. (golf) to hit (the ball) completely cleanly and accurately

   Tiger Woods pured his first drive straight down the middle of the fairway.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pjʊə/
• Rhymes: -ʊə(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): /pjʊɚ/

Noun

pure (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of puer
   • 1851, H. Mayhew, London Labour and the London poor, vII. 142/1:

     […] Dogs'-dung is called ‘Pure’, from its cleansing and purifying properties.

   • 1842, The Penny Magazine, May 212/1:

     […] A solution called the ‘pure’ or the 'pewer' (having never seen the word written.., we must spell it as pronounced) is prepared in a large vessel, and into this the skins are immersed.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Peru, Pre-U, Prue, Pu'er, Rupe, puer, re-up, reup

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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

1. complete
2. (adverbial) completely

Inflection

Inflection of pure
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	pure	—	—2
Neuter singular	pure	—	—2
Plural	pure	—	—2
Definite attributive1	pure	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Etymology 2

From French purée (“puree”).

Alternative forms

• puré

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pyre/, [pʰyˈʁæ]

Noun

pure c (singular definite pureen, plural indefinite pureer)

1. puree

Inflection

Declension of pure

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

Etymology 3

See etymology on the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /puːrə/, [ˈpʰuːɐ̯]

Adjective

pure

1. definite of pur
2. plural of pur

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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 singular 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

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ure

Etymology 1

Adjective

pure f pl

1. feminine plural of puro

Etymology 2

From Latin pūrē, the adverb of pūrus.

Adverb

pure

1. too, also, as well

   Synonyms: anche

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

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

   Parla pure (with imperative) ― Speak if you like

   Lei parli pure (with formal subjunctive-imperative) ― Speak if you like

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 (comparative pūrius, superlative pūrissimē)

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

References

• pure in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pure in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) logic, dialectic: dialectica (-ae or -orum) (pure Latin disserendi ratio et scientia)
    
  • (ambiguous) astronomy: astrologia (pure Latin sidera, caelestia)
    

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• pur, puyr, pore, poure, peure, puȝr, puir, puire, puyre

Etymology

From Old French pur, from Latin pūrus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piu̯r/

Adjective

pure (comparative purer, superlative purest)

1. pure, unadulterated, undiluted, untarnished
2. entire, total, all
3. perfect, wonderful, unflawed
4. morally clean, pure, or upstanding
5. chaste
6. true, real, genuine, not counterfeit
7. clear, obvious, simple

Descendants

• Scots: puir, pure
• English: pure
• → Cornish: pur

References

• “pūr(e (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-02.

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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.