shire

See also: Shire and -shire

English

Etymology

From Middle English shire, from Old English scir, from Proto-West Germanic *skīru.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃaɪə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃaɪəɹ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Noun

shire (plural shires)

1. Physical area administered by a sheriff.
2. Former administrative area of Britain; a county.

   Yorkshire is the largest shire in England.

3. (UK, colloquial) The general area in which a person lives or comes from, used in the context of travel within the United Kingdom.

   When are you coming back to the shire?

4. A rural or outer suburban local government area of Australia.
5. A shire horse.

Derived terms

• Four Shire Stone
• -shire
• shire horse
• Shire Oak
• shire town

Related terms

• sheriff

Descendants

• → Icelandic: skíri

Translations

former administrative area of Britain; a county

• Bulgarian: гра́фство n (gráfstvo)
• Catalan: comtat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 郡 (zh) (jùn), 夏 (zh) (xià)

• Czech: hrabství n
• Danish: grevskab n
• Dutch: graafschap (nl) n
• Esperanto: graflando
• Finnish: kreivikunta (fi)
• French: comté (fr) f
• Galician: condado m
• German: Grafschaft (de) f
• Hungarian: megye (hu)
• Icelandic: skíri n
• Irish: sír f
• Italian: contea (it) f
• Japanese: シャイア (shaia), 郡 (ja) (ぐん, gun)
• Manx: sheer
• Old High German: scīra
• Polish: hrabstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: condado (pt) m
• Romanian: judet n, ținut (ro) n
• Russian: гра́фство (ru) n (gráfstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: siorrachd f, siorramachd f
• Spanish: condado (es) m
• Swedish: grevskap (sv) n
• Welsh: sir (cy)

rural or outer suburban local government area of Australia

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 郡 (zh) (jùn)

• Finnish: piirikunta (fi)
• French: comté (fr) m
• Polish: hrabstwo (pl) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} skíri n

Verb

shire (third-person singular simple present shires, present participle shiring, simple past and past participle shired)

1. To (re)constitute as one or more shires or counties.
   • 1985, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, page 291:

     Although he still managed formally to shire the province in the summer and autumn of 1585, his plan to establish a presidential government and complete the integration of Ulster into English Ireland met with royal indifference.

   • 2012, James Lydon, The Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to the Present, →ISBN, page 160:

     The province was shired into nine counties, […]

   County Longford was shired in 1586

References

• “shire”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Hersi, Hires, Hiser, Sheri, Shier, heirs, hi-res, hires, reish, shier

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Dongxiang

Etymology

From Proto-Mongolic *sirexe, compare Mongolian ширээ (širee).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʂiˈrə/, [ʂɨˈrɛ]

Noun

shire

1. table

   ijieku dunxila chukuide wo, yunjiku dunxila shire jiere wo.

   The food is in the cupboard and the things for use are on the table.

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English sċīr (“shire”), from Proto-West Germanic *skīru. The final vowel is generalised from the Old English inflected forms.

Alternative forms

• shiere, chire, ssire, schire, schyre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃiːr(ə)/

Noun

shire (plural shires)

2. shire, district, county
   • late 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 15-16.

     And specially from every shires ende

     Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,

     And specially from every shire's end

     Of England they to Canterbury went,

Related terms

• shirreve

Descendants

• Scots: shire
• English: shire
  • → Icelandic: skíri

Etymology 2

From Old English sċīr (“bright”).

Adjective

shire

1. Alternative form of schyre (“bright”)

Etymology 3

From Old English sċīran, from Proto-Germanic *skīrijaną.

Verb

shire

1. Alternative form of schiren