tremor

See also: Tremor and trémor

English

Alternative forms

• tremour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English tremour (“fright”), from Anglo-Norman tremour and Old French tremor, from Latin tremor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɛmə(ɹ)
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪmɚ/
  • Homophone: trimmer
  • Rhymes: -ɪmə(ɹ)
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiːmə(ɹ)/

Noun

tremor (plural tremors)

1. A shake, quiver, or vibration.

   She felt a tremor in her stomach before going on stage.

   1. (medicine) A rhythmic, uncontrollable shaking of all or part of the body due to partial muscle contractions.

      The optometrist has been losing patients ever since he developed tremors in his hand.

2. An earthquake.

   Did you feel the tremor this morning?

Derived terms

• antitremor
• earth tremor
• essential tremor
• harmonic tremor
• microtremor
• night tremor
• tremordominant
• tremorful
• tremorgenic
• tremorgram
• tremorgraph
• tremorgraphy
• tremorine
• tremorless
• tremorous

Translations

shake, quiver, or vibration

• Bulgarian: потръпване (bg) n (potrǎpvane)
• Chamicuro: ka'nakosilo
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哆嗦 (zh) (duōsuo), 顫抖 / 颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu or zhàndǒu), 發抖 / 发抖 (zh) (fādǒu), 顫慄 / 颤栗 (zh) (zhànlì), 震顫 / 震颤 (zh) (zhènchàn), 震動 / 震动 (zh) (zhèndòng)

• Czech: třes (cs) m, otřes m
• Emilian: tarmarî f, termarìa f, tarmarìa f, tarmarôla f,
• Finnish: väreily, vavahtelu, tärinä (fi)
• French: tremblement (fr) m, trépidation (fr) f
• Friulian: trimôr
• Galician: tremor m
• German: Zittern (de) n
• Greek: τρεμούλα (el) f (tremoúla), ρίγος (el) n (rígos)
• Haitian Creole: tranbleman
• Hungarian: reszketés (hu), remegés (hu)
• Irish: creathán m
• Italian: tremore (it)
• Japanese: 震え (ふるえ, furue), 揺れ (ja) (ゆれ, yure)
• Korean: 떨림 (tteollim)
• Latin: tremor m
• Māori: ngāueue, wheoi
• Persian: لرزش (fa) (larzeš)
• Polish: drżenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: tremor (pt) m
• Russian: дрожь (ru) f (drožʹ), дрожа́ние (ru) n (drožánije)
• Sicilian: trimuri
• Spanish: temblor (es) m
• Swedish: skakning (sv) c
• Walloon: tronnaedje (wa) m, tronna (wa) m

uncontrollable bodily shaking

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: тремор m (tremor)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哆嗦 (zh) (duōsuo), 顫抖 / 颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu or zhàndǒu), 發抖 / 发抖 (zh) (fādǒu), 顫慄 / 颤栗 (zh) (zhànlì), 震顫 / 震颤 (zh) (zhènchàn), 震動 / 震动 (zh) (zhèndòng)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: vapina (fi), tärinä (fi)
• French: trémulation (fr) f, tremblement (fr) m, trépidation (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Tremor (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: τρόμος m (trómos)

• Hungarian: remegés (hu)
• Irish: crith m
• Italian: tremore (it) m
• Japanese: 振戦, 震顫 (ja), 振顫 (ja) (しんせん, shinsen)
• Korean: 진전 (ko) (jinjeon)
• Latin: tremor m
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: drżenie (pl) n, tremor (pl) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

earthquake — see also earthquake,‎ seism

• Azerbaijani: təkan (az), yeraltı təkan
• Bulgarian: леко земетресение n (leko zemetresenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地震 (zh) (dìzhèn)

• Czech: otřes m
• Emilian: taramòt m, teremòt m
• Esperanto: tertremo, seismo, sismo (eo)
• Finnish: maan vavahtelu
• French: tremblement de terre (fr) m, secousse sismique f, trémor (fr) m, trépidation (fr) f
• German: Beben (de) n, Erdbeben (de) n
• Greek: σεισμός (el) m (seismós)

  Ancient Greek: σεισμός m (seismós)

• Hawaiian: ōlaʻi
• Higaonon: linog
• Hungarian: rengés (hu), rázkódás (hu), lökés (hu)
• Irish: creathán talún m
• Italian: terremoto (it) m
• Japanese: 地震 (ja)
• Korean: 지진 (ko) (jijin)
• Latin: terrae mōtus m
• Māori: rūpaku
• Nepali: कम्पन (ne) (kampan), भूकम्प (bhūkampa)
• Polish: wstrząs (pl) m
• Portuguese: tremor (pt) m
• Quechua: pacha kuyuy, allpa chukchuy
• Russian: сотрясе́ние (ru) n (sotrjasénije), толчки́ (ru) m pl (tolčkí)
• Serbo-Croatian: potres (sh) m
• Spanish: temblor (es) m
• Swedish: skalv (sv) n, jordskalv (sv) n
• Vietnamese: sự run rẩy

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

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} tremo (io)

Verb

tremor (third-person singular simple present tremors, present participle tremoring, simple past and past participle tremored)

1. To shake or quiver excessively and rapidly or involuntarily; to tremble.
   • 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 17, in Small Island‎^[2], London: Review, page 188:

     The ground tremored under their big boots.

Derived terms

• tremoring

Translations

to shake or quiver; to tremble

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哆嗦 (zh) (duōsuo), 顫抖 / 颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu or zhàndǒu)

• Finnish: värähdellä (fi), väreillä, vavahdella (fi)
• French: trembler (fr)
• German: zittern (de)
• Greek: τρέμω (el) (trémo), ριγώ (el) (rigó)
• Hungarian: reszket (hu), remeg (hu)
• Japanese: 震える (ja) (ふるえる, furueru)
• Māori: ngāueue, ngaue
• Polish: drżeć (pl)
• Portuguese: tremer (pt)
• Russian: дрожа́ть (ru) (drožátʹ), трясти́сь (ru) (trjastísʹ)
• Swedish: skaka (sv)

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *trem- (0 c, 19 e)

Anagrams

• remort, termor

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese tremor (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin tremor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoɾ/

Noun

tremor m (plural tremores)

1. tremor
2. agitation

Related terms

• tremer

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “tremor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “tremor”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “tremor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “tremor”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Indonesian

Etymology

From English tremor, from Middle English tremour (“fright”), from Anglo-Norman tremour and Old French tremor, from Latin tremor.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtremor/ [ˈt̪re.mɔr]
• Rhymes: -emor
• Syllabification: tre‧mor

Noun

tremor (plural tremor-tremor)

1. (medicine) tremor: a rhythmic, uncontrollable shaking of all or part of the body due to partial muscle contractions

Further reading

• “tremor”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Interlingua

Noun

tremor (plural tremores)

1. (medicine) tremor

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin tremō

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Italic *-ōs

Latin -or

Latin tremor

From tremō + -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtrɛ.mɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtrɛː.mor]

Noun

tremor m (genitive tremōris); third declension

1. trembling, quaking, tremor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	tremor	tremōrēs
genitive	tremōris	tremōrum
dative	tremōrī	tremōribus
accusative	tremōrem	tremōrēs
ablative	tremōre	tremōribus
vocative	tremor	tremōrēs

Descendants

• English: tremor
• Old French: cremor
  • Bourguignon: cremmeur
• French: trémeur (borrowing)
• Friulian: trimôr
• Galician: tremor
• Italian: tremore
• Portuguese: tremor
• Sicilian: trimuri
• Spanish: tremor

Verb

tremor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of tremō

References

• “tremor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tremor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tremor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Noun

tremor

1. alternative form of tremour

Old French

Alternative forms

• tremour (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

From Latin tremor, probably borrowed.

Noun

tremor oblique singular, m (oblique plural tremors, nominative singular tremors, nominative plural tremor)

1. terror; great fear

Related terms

• criembre

Descendants

• → Middle English: tremour, tremor
  • English: tremor
• French: trémeur

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese tremor, from Latin tremor.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoʁ/ [tɾeˈmoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoʁ/ [tɾeˈmoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoʁ/ [tɾeˈmoχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɨˈmoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɨˈmoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾɨˈmo.ɾi/

• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -oɾ, (Brazil) -oʁ
• Hyphenation: tre‧mor

Noun

tremor m (plural tremores)

1. tremor
2. agitation

Related terms

• tremer

Further reading

• “tremor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tremor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish tremor (attested in El Cid), from Latin tremor. Although originally inherited, it was later used in some senses as a Latinism or Italianism (cf. tremore).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾeˈmoɾ/ [t̪ɾeˈmoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: tre‧mor

Noun

tremor m (plural tremores)

1. tremor, trembling

Related terms

• temblar
• tremer

Further reading

• “tremor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025