zier

From Middle Dutch siere, from Frankish *seuro, from Proto-West Germanic *seur(j)ōn, which was borrowed into French as ciron (“itch-mite”). The ultimate origin is unknown, as cognates outside of West Germanic are lacking. Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kes- (“to scrape”), source of Ancient Greek ξύω (xúō, “to scratch, scrape”).

• IPA^(key): /ziːr/

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• Hyphenation: zier
• Rhymes: -ir

zier f (uncountable, diminutive ziertje n)

1. A tiny amount.
2. (archaic) A mite.

• geen zier

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “zier”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
• “ciron”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.