cur

From Middle English curre (“watchdog, small hunting dog, mongrel, mutt”), perhaps of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin. Compare Middle Dutch corre (“domestic dog, yard dog, watch-dog”), dialectal Dutch korre (“dog, yard dog”), dialectal Swedish kurre (“a dog”). Compare also Old Norse kurra (“to growl; grumble”), Middle Low German kurren, korren (“to growl”). Compare also Middle Dutch querie (“female dog, bitch”).

Also Irish and Scottish Gaelic

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɜː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɝ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Homophone: Kerr

cur (plural curs)

1. (dated or humorous) A contemptible or inferior dog.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell
     Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of hel;
     Wherof hereafter, I thinke for to write,
     Of fals double tunges in the diſpite.

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     you have many enemies, that know not why they are so, but, like to village-curs, bark when their fellows do.

   • 1897, Joseph Conrad, “II”, in An Outpost of Progress:

     He threw the soapsuds skilfully over a wretched little yellow cur he had, then turning his face to the agent's house, he shouted from the distance, "All the men gone last night!"

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 25”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     "You have no more spirit than a mongrel cur. You lie down on the ground and ask people to trample on you."

2. (dated or humorous) A detestable person.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I have not the power to muzzle him.

   • 1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page vi. 54:

     "Who 's a cur - now - hey?"

• bitsa, bitser
• mongrel
• mutt

• CRU, Cru, RUC, cru, ruc

From Latin culus. Compare Romanian cur.

• curu

cur

1. (slang, referring to the anus) ass

From Latin currō. Compare Romanian cure, cur (modern curge, curg).

• curu

cur first-singular present indicative

1. to run
2. to flow

• curari / curare

From Latin cūrō. Compare archaic/regional Romanian cura, cur.

• curu

cur first-singular present indicative (past participle curatã)

1. to clean

• curari / curare
• curat

From Latin cārus.

• cuor, kuor

cur m (feminine cuora)

1. dear, beloved

From Vulgar Latin *corem m, from Latin cor n.

cur

1. heart

Borrowed from Russian чур (čur).

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃur/, [ˈt͡ʃur]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃur/, [ˈt͡ʃur]
• Rhymes: -ur
• Hyphenation: cur

cur

1. bags! dibs!

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 603

• cuir

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /kʊɾˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /kʌɾˠ/

cur m (genitive singular as substantive cuir, genitive as verbal noun curtha)

1. verbal noun of cuir
2. sowing, planting; tillage
3. burial
4. setting, laying
5. course; round
6. set (of implements)

Substantive

Verbal noun

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cur	chur	gcur
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cur”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cur”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cur”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

• qūr, quūr, quōr (old form)
• quur, cor (rare)

From Old Latin quūr, quōr, from Proto-Italic *kʷōr, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷōr, having undergone pre-resonant and monosyllabic lengthening from *kʷor (“where”), from *kʷos (“interrogative determiner”) +‎ *-r (“adverbial suffix”). For other Indo-European cognates, compare:

• Sanskrit कर्हि (kárhi, “when”), Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”) < *kʷor
• Old English hwǣr (“where”), Old High German hwār (“where”) < *kʷēr
• Albanian kur (“when”), Lithuanian kur̃ (“where, whither”), Armenian ուր (ur, “where”) < *kʷur
• Norwegian Nynorsk kvar (“where”), Norwegian Nynorsk kor (“where”), Norwegian Bokmål hvor (“where”) < Old Norse hvárr < older hvaðarr < Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz < Proto-Indo-European *kʷóteros, from *kʷos (“which”)

See also quirquir (“wherever(?)”).^[1][2]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kuːr/, [kuːr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kur/, [kur]

cūr (not comparable)

1. why, for what reason, wherefore, to what purpose, from what motive

   Cur in terra iaces?

   Why are you lying on the ground?

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 11.424:

     Cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus?

     Why before the trumpet [of war], fear seizes your limbs?

• cūr nōn

• nam
• quia

• “cur”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cur in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cur in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • how came it that...: quid causae fuit cur...?
    
• “cūr” on page 519/1-2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

cur

1. Latin spelling of ჯურ (cur)

A highly suppletive verb with forms derived from two already suppletive verbs.

• The imperative and verbal noun forms are from Old Irish cuirid, from older cor, the verbal noun of fo·ceird. The verbal noun is etymologically unrelated to fo·ceird itself however, only arising in its paradigm due to suppletion.
• All other forms of the verb are from Old Irish do·beir, itself also a suppletive verb. See also Scottish Gaelic thoir and Irish tabhair.

cur (verbal noun cur, coyrt)

1. put

   Cur y muc shen magh hoshiaght. ― Put that pig out first.

2. give

• cur ayns kishtey (“box, crate”, verb)

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cur	chur	gur
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cuirid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Latin culus.

cur

1. (slang) asshole (anus)

cur

1. Alternative form of curre

From Old Irish caur, from Proto-Celtic *karuts.

cur m (genitive curad, nominative plural curaid)

1. hero, warrior
   • c. 1000, “The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig”, in Ernst Windisch, editor, Irische Texte, volume 1, published 1800, section 15:

     Fo chích curad
     crechtaig, cathbuadaig, at comsa mac Findchoeme frim. […] Magen curad,
     cride n-ega, eithre n-ela,
     eirr trén tressa, trethan ágach,
     cain tarb tnúthach.

     Under the breast of the hero
     covered in wounds, victorious in battle, you are the son of Findchoem who is equal to me. […] Dwelling of a hero,
     heart of ice, plumage of a swan
     strong chariot-hero of battle, warlike sea,
     beautiful fierce bull.

• curadmír (“warrior’s portion”)

• Irish: curadh

Middle Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
cur	chur	cur pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cur”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

cur f pl

1. plural of cùra

• IPA^(key): /kur/

• Audio:

  (file)

Inherited from Latin culus, from Proto-Indo-European *kuH-l-, zero-grade without s-mobile form of *(s)kewH- (“to cover”). Compare Italian culo, French cul.

cur n (plural cururi)

1. (slang, vulgar, referring to the anus) asshole

   Synonyms: anus, dos, fund, popou, șezut

   O să-mi bag pula în curul tău.

   I'm gonna put my cock in your ass.

   a cădea în cur ― to be blown away (literally, “to fall on one's ass”)

   a sta pe cur ― to sit on the fence (literally, “to sit on one's ass”)

   a sta în cur ― to take a seat (literally, “to sit on one's butt”)

   a te mânca în cur ― to look for trouble (literally, “to have an itchy ass”)

   a da din cur ― to show off (literally, “to wiggle one's ass”)

   a da cu curul ― to have sex (literally, “to give with one's ass”)

   a te durea în cur ― to not give a shit (literally, “to have a pain in one's ass”)

   a te trage pe cur ― to weasel out (literally, “to drag oneself on one's ass”)

   a sări de cur în sus ― to hit the roof (literally, “to jump up from one's ass”)

   a pupa în cur ― to kiss ass (literally, “to kiss in one's ass”)

   a muşca de cur ― to badmouth (literally, “to bite one's ass”)

   a sta cu mâna-n cur ― to sit on one's hands (literally, “to sit with one's hand in one's ass”)

   a veni cu mâna-n cur ― to come empty-handed (literally, “to come with one's hand in one's ass”)

   a-ți băga un deget în cur ― to make things harder for oneself (literally, “to stick a finger in one's ass”)

   a sta cu capul băgat în cur ― to bury one's head in the sand (literally, “to have one's head stuck in one's ass”)

   a strânge din cur ― to be scared stiff (literally, “to clench one's ass”)

   a-ți mânca de sub cur ― to be tightfisted (literally, “to eat from under one's ass”)

   a fi cu curul în sus ― to be pissed off (literally, “to have one's ass up”)

   a te scula cu curul în sus ― to get up on the wrong side of the bed (literally, “to wake up with one's ass up”)

   a fi cu morcovul în cur ― to feel shitty (literally, “to have a carrot in one's ass”)

   îți rup curul ― I'll kick your ass (literally, “I'll break your ass”)

   fără cur în pantaloni ― spineless (literally, “without an ass in one's pants”)

   mișcă-ți curul! ― fuck off! (literally, “move your ass!”)

   a căuta și-n cur ― to leave no stone unturned (literally, “to look even in one's ass”)

   a-ți pune curul la bătaie ― to stick one's neck out (literally, “to put one's ass on the line”)

   a merge ca un cur ― to walk awkwardly (literally, “to walk like an ass”)

   gura bate curul ― a closed mouth gathers no feet (literally, “the mouth beats the ass”)

   cur obraznic ― sex on a stick/legs (literally, “cheeky ass”)

• curist

cur

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of cura (to clean)

cur m (genitive singular cuir, no plural)

1. verbal noun of cuir
2. placing, setting, sending, sowing
3. laying, pouring
4. falling of snow, raining
5. throwing

• ath-chur (“transplant”)
• eadar-chur (“interjection, interruption”)

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
cur	chur
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “cur”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[2], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN

From Middle Welsh kur, from Proto-Brythonic *kʉr, from Latin cūra.

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /kɨ̞r/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /kɪr/
• Rhymes: -ɨ̞r

cur m or f (plural curiau or curau)

1. pain, ache

   Synonyms: poen, dolur, gloes

2. pang
3. anguish, anxiety

   Synonym: blinder

• cur pen (“headache”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cur”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies