sun

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Appendix:Variations of "sun"

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English sonne, sunne, from Old English sunne, from Proto-West Germanic *sunnā, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen-, oblique of *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”)

See also Saterland Frisian Sunne, West Frisian sinne, German Low German Sünn, Dutch zon, German Sonne, Icelandic sunna; outside of Germanic, Welsh huan, Sanskrit स्वर् (svar), Avestan 𐬓𐬇𐬧𐬔‎ (xᵛə̄ṇg)).

Related to sol, Sol, Surya, and Helios. More at solar.

Alternative forms[edit]

  • (proper noun, star which the Earth revolves around): Sun (capitalized)
  • sonne, sunne (obsolete spelling)

Proper noun[edit]

sun

The sun photographed by Skylab 4.
  2. The star that the Earth revolves around and from which it receives light and warmth.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 233:
      "I suppose I may have leave to do that!" Yes, she could do that, he said, but there was no road to that place; it lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and she could never find her way there.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
Usage notes[edit]
  • While the sun by tradition is typically regarded as masculine, the noun itself was originally feminine in grammatical gender.
Translations[edit]
See sun/translations § Proper noun.

Noun[edit]

sun (plural suns)

  1. (astronomy) A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system.
  2. The light and warmth which is received from the sun; sunshine or sunlight.
  3. (figuratively) Something like the sun in brightness or splendor.
  4. (chiefly literary) Sunrise or sunset.
    • 1609-11, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act III, Scene 2:
      Imogen: […] Pr'ythee, speak, / How many score of miles may we well ride / 'Twixt hour and hour / Pisanio: One score, 'twixt sun and sun, / Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too. / Imogen: Why, one that rode to his execution, man, / Could never go so slow.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
      , p.184 (republished 1832):
      whilst many an hunger-starved poor creature pines in the street, wants clothes to cover him, labours hard all day long, runs, rides for a trifle, fights peradventure from sun to sun, sick and ill, weary, full of pain and grief, is in great distress and sorrow of heart.
    • 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, published 1873, page 357:
      I love these sons of earth every mother's son of them, with their great hearty hearts rushing tumultuously in herds from spectacle to spectacle, as if fearful lest there should not be time between sun and sun to see them all, and the sun does not wait more than in haying-time.
    • 1962, Harry S. Truman, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, page 651:
      You see, the President has five jobs, any one of which would be more than a full-time job for one man; but I have to do all five of them between sun and sun.
    • 1997, Alan Dean Foster, Howling Stones, page 149:
      “Tomorrow at first sun.” Not being much of a morning person, she winced internally. “First sun?” “It is the proper time, when the flowers of the pohoroh first open to the light.”
  5. A revolution of the Earth around the Sun; a year.
  6. A transversing of the sky by the Sun; a day.
    • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎[1]:
      `Four suns since was the word brought to me from `She-who-must-be-obeyed,' `White men come; if white men come, slay them not.' Let them be brought to the house of `She-who-must-be-obeyed.'
  7. The nineteenth trump/major arcana card of the Tarot.
  8. (cartomancy) The thirty-first Lenormand card.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See sun/translations § Noun.

Verb[edit]

sun (third-person singular simple present suns, present participle sunning, simple past and past participle sunned)

  1. (transitive) To expose to the warmth and radiation of the sun.
    Synonym: apricate
    Beautiful bodies lying on the beach, sunning their bronzed limbs.
    • 2000, William Laurance, Stinging Trees and Wait-a-Whiles: Confessions of a Rainforest Biologist:
      There were lots of zany antics and we tried not to stare too obviously at the beautiful women toplessly sunning themselves...
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
      Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines. A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
  2. (transitive) To warm or dry in the sunshine.
  3. (intransitive) To be exposed to the sun.
  4. (intransitive, alternative medicine) To expose the eyes to the sun as part of the Bates method.
Hypernyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See sun/translations § Verb.

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Japanese 寸 (sun). Doublet of cun.

Noun[edit]

sun (plural sun)

  1. A traditional Japanese unit of length, approximately 30.3 millimetres (1.193 inches).

Etymology 3[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of sunn (“the plant”)

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Bambara[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. trunk (of tree)
Usage notes[edit]

Often used in a compound with the name of a tree to indicate that kind of tree.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Arabic صَوْم‎ (ṣawm, “fasting; abstaining from food, drink, and sex”), from Classical Syriac ܨܘܡܐ‎ (ṣawmāʾ)

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. fasting (during the month of Ramadan)

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. to fast

Bavarian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German sun, from Old High German sunu, from Proto-West Germanic *sunu, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”). Cognate with German Sohn, Dutch zoon, English son, Icelandic sonur.

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. (Sauris) son

References[edit]

Cimbrian[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun m

  1. (Tredici Comuni) son

References[edit]

  • Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Deverbal of sunout

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun m inan

  1. slide

Declension[edit]

Declension
singular plural
nominative sun suny
genitive sunu sunů
dative sunu sunům
accusative sun suny
vocative sune suny
locative sunu, suně sunech
instrumental sunem suny

Related terms[edit]

Finnish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈsun/, [ˈs̠un]
  • Rhymes: -un
  • Syllabification: sun

Etymology 1[edit]

Possibly from etymology 2, originally as a replacement of mun, eroded variant of muin which was reinterpreted as the genitive singular of mä.

Conjunction[edit]

sun

  1. (coordinating) A coordinating conjunction expressing generality.
    En nyt jouda, kun tässä on sitä sun tätä tekemistä.
    I don't have time for that because I have this and that to do (miscellaneous stuff/things to do).
    Lautanen oli täynnä makaroonilaatikkoa, makkaraa, salaattia, perunamuussia sun muuta pöperöä.
    The plate was full of macaroni casserole, sausage, salad, mashed potatoes and other grub.

Etymology 2[edit]

From the standard language form sinun (“your, yours”)

Pronoun[edit]

sun

  1. (colloquial) genitive of sä

Friulian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin sonus.

Noun[edit]

sun m (plural suns)

  1. sound
  2. music

Synonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Inari Sami[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Samic *sonë.

Pronoun[edit]

sun

  1. he, she, it

Further reading[edit]

  • Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Indonesian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch zoen (“kiss”), from Middle Dutch zoene, soen, soene, swoene (“reconciliation; atonement; kiss”), from Old Dutch *sōna, *swōna (“reconciliation; peace; agreement”), from Proto-Germanic *sōnō, *swōnō (“appeasement; reconciliation; atonement; sacrifice”), from Proto-Indo-European *swā-n- (“healthy; whole; active; vigorous”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈsʊn]
  • Hyphenation: sun

Noun[edit]

sun (first-person possessive sunku, second-person possessive sunmu, third-person possessive sunnya)

  1. kiss, a touch with the lips, usually to express love or affection, or as a greeting.
    Synonym: ciuman

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Javanese[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. a kiss

Kaingang[edit]

FWOTD – 12 May 2013

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

sun

  1. To warm oneself by staying near a fire.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “sun” in Editora Esperança, Dicionário Kaingang-Português Português-Kaingang, Ursula Gojtéj Wiesemann, 2nd edition, 2011, page 83.

Ladin[edit]

Preposition[edit]

sun

  1. on, over
  2. in

Verb[edit]

sun

  1. Alternative form of son

Manchu[edit]

Romanization[edit]

sun

  1. Romanization of ᠰᡠᠨ

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

sun

  1. Nonstandard spelling of sūn.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of sǔn.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of sùn.

Usage notes[edit]

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. Alternative form of sonne (“sun”)

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. Alternative form of sone (“son”)

Mimi of Nachtigal[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Similar to (and likely a borrowing of, or possibly the lender of) the word used for water in the "third Mimi" language, Amdang sunu, which in turn is (per Starostin) "most likely cognate with Fur suːn ‘waterhole, well’".

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. water

References[edit]

  • George Starostin, On Mimi

Min Nan[edit]

For pronunciation and definitions of sun – see 孫 (“grandchild; grandson; etc.”).
(This character, sun, is the Pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 孫.)

North Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian sand, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz. Cognates include West Frisian sân.

Noun[edit]

sun n (plural sun)

  1. (Föhr-Amrum) sand

Derived terms[edit]

Okinawan[edit]

Verb[edit]

sun

  1. romanized of すん

Old Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse sonr, sunr, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz.

Noun[edit]

sun m (nominative plural synær)

  1. son

Descendants[edit]

  • Danish: søn

Quiripi[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun

  1. (Unquachog) stone

References[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Verb[edit]

sun

  1. first-person singular present indicative of suna
  2. first-person singular present subjunctive of suna

Etymology 2[edit]

Probably from Latin sonus, or from the verb suna.

Noun[edit]

sun n (plural sunuri)

  1. (archaic) sound
Declension[edit]
Declension of sun
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) sun sunul (niște) sunuri sunurile
genitive/dative (unui) sun sunului (unor) sunuri sunurilor
vocative sunule sunurilor
Synonyms[edit]

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English sunne, from Proto-West Germanic *sunnā, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen- (“sun”), oblique stem *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

sun (plural suns)

  1. sun

Derived terms[edit]

Vietnamese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

sun

  1. (intransitive) To shrink.
  2. (transitive) To pull together.
    sun vai
    to pull one’s shoulders together

References[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=sun&oldid=66007345"