sark

See also: Sark, särk, and şark

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑːk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːk

Etymology 1

From Middle English serk, sark, serke, from Old English serċ, sierċ m; and serċe, sierċe f (“sark, shirt, shift, smock, tunic, corselet, coat of mail”), from Proto-West Germanic *sarki, from Proto-Germanic *sarkiz (“shirt, armour, hauberk”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerg-, *swerk- (“clothes worn outside”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to arrange, tack, tie, unite”).

Cognate with Scots sark, serk (“shirt, shift”), North Frisian serk (“shirt”), Danish særk (“gown, shirt”), Swedish särk (“shirt, chemise”), Icelandic serkur (“nightshirt”).

Noun

sark (plural sarks)

1. (archaic) A garment worn against the torso, inclusive of shirts, tunics, undershirts, nightshirts, surplices.

   Near is the kirtle, but nearer the sark.

2. (Scotland and Northern England) Synonym of shirt, whether worn against the skin or not.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     The next thing the watchers saw was the laird struggling up the far bank and casting his coat from him, so that he rode in his sark.

   • 2007, Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials, Bluefire, →ISBN, page 259:

     Then lorek's rear claws dug into the links of Iofur's chain-mail sark and ripped downward. The whole front came away, and Iofur lurched sideways to look at the damage, leaving lorek to scramble upright again.

Derived terms

• baresark
• sarkful
• sarkless

Related terms

• battle-sark
• berserk
• sarkit

Etymology 2

Verb

sark (third-person singular simple present sarks, present participle sarking, simple past and past participle sarked)

1. (transitive) To cover with sarking, or thin boards.

Anagrams

• AKRs, Kars, arks, kars, ksar, skar

Hungarian

Etymology

Of the same origin as sarok.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃɒrk]
• Rhymes: -ɒrk
• Hyphenation: sark

Noun

sark (plural sarkok)

1. pole (an extreme point of an axis, e.g. magnetically or geographically)

   Synonym: pólus

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	sark	sarkok
accusative	sarkot	sarkokat
dative	sarknak	sarkoknak
instrumental	sarkkal	sarkokkal
causal-final	sarkért	sarkokért
translative	sarkká	sarkokká
terminative	sarkig	sarkokig
essive-formal	sarkként	sarkokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	sarkban	sarkokban
superessive	sarkon	sarkokon
adessive	sarknál	sarkoknál
illative	sarkba	sarkokba
sublative	sarkra	sarkokra
allative	sarkhoz	sarkokhoz
elative	sarkból	sarkokból
delative	sarkról	sarkokról
ablative	sarktól	sarkoktól
non-attributive possessive – singular	sarké	sarkoké
non-attributive possessive – plural	sarkéi	sarkokéi

Possessive forms of sark

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	sarkom	sarkaim
2nd person sing.	sarkod	sarkaid
3rd person sing.	sarka	sarkai
1st person plural	sarkunk	sarkaink
2nd person plural	sarkotok	sarkaitok
3rd person plural	sarkuk	sarkaik

Derived terms

• sarki

Compound words

• Déli-sark
• Északi-sark
• sarkkutató

Further reading

• sark in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Middle English

Noun

sark

1. alternative form of serk

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• schörk (Mooring)
• Sērk (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian zerke, from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā. Cognates include West Frisian tsjerke.

Pronunciation

• (Föhr-Amrum) IPA^(key): [saxk]

Noun

sark f (plural sarken)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) church

   At St. Clemens sark as en sark uun Neebel üüb Oomram.

   Saint Clement's Church is a church in Nebel on Amrum.

   Uun a sark könst dach ei iidj!

   You can’t eat at church!

Usage notes

• One of the original feminines that still commonly take the reduced article a. Compare the different uses above and see at for further information.

Scots

Etymology

From Old English serc, syrc, sierce, from Germanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑrk/
• (Southern Scots) IPA^(key): [sɛrk]

Noun

sark (plural sarks)

1. a man's shirt
2. a woman's shift or chemise

Derived terms

• cutty sark (“short chemise or undergarment”)
• sarkfu (“shirtful”)
• sarkin (“coarse linen for shirts; roof boarding”)

Verb

sark (third-person singular simple present sarks, present participle sarkin, simple past and past participle sarkit)

1. to clothe in or provide with a shirt
2. to cover the rafters of a roof with wooden boards, line a roof with wood for the slates to be nailed on

Tocharian A

Etymology

Compare Tocharian B serke.

Noun

sark

1. circle
2. cycle

Tocharian B

Noun

sark

1. back (of the body)

Volapük

Noun

sark (genitive sarka, plural sarks)

1. coffin

Declension

Declension of sark

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sark	sarks
Genitive	sarka	sarkas
Dative	sarke	sarkes
Accusative	sarki	sarkis
Predicative1	sarku	sarkus
Vocative	o sark	o sarks

1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

Further reading

• “sark”, in Vödabuk (in English, Esperanto, and Volapük)