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Wiktionary

sour

See also: sour-

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).

Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

  1. Tasting of acidity.
    Lemons have a sour taste.
  2. Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
    Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour.
  3. Tasting or smelling rancid.
    His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.
  4. (of a person's character) Hostile or unfriendly.
    He gave me a sour look.
  5. Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)
    sour land
    a sour marsh
  6. Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)
    sour gas smells like rotten eggs
  7. Unfortunate or unfavorable.
    • 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 IV, scene ii]:
      Let me embrace thee, sour adversity
    • 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.
  8. (music) Off-pitch, out of tune.
    • 2010, Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain, page 201:
      Unlike what the name implies, there is nothing inherently wrong with a sour note: It is perfectly well-tuned note that would sound normal in another context (and which presumably would not sound sour to someone unfamiliar with tonal music).

Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of “soil, petroleum”): sweet

Derived terms

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Translations

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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

See also

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Basic tastes in English (layout · text)
           
sweet sour salty bitter spicy savory

Noun

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sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)

  1. The sensation of a sour taste.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  2. A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
  4. A sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste.
    • 2022, Michael N. Riley, ARCH BOOK I, page 78:
      “You know I like them candies, especially the lemon sours.”
  5. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
  6. The acidic solution used in souring fabric.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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sour (third-person singular simple present sours, present participle souring, simple past and past participle soured)

  1. (transitive) To make sour.
    Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.
  2. (intransitive) To become sour.
  3. (transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.
  4. (intransitive) To become disenchanted.
    We broke up after our relationship soured.
  5. (transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
    • 1832, Joseph Harrison, Sir Joseph Paxton, The Horticultural Register, page 396:
      stagnant water , which tends to sour the soil
  6. To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
  7. (transitive) To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.

Conjugation

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Conjugation of sour
infinitive (to) sour
present tense past tense
1st-person singular sour soured
2nd-person singular sour, sourest† soured, souredst†
3rd-person singular sours, soureth† soured
plural sour
subjunctive sour soured
imperative sour —
participles souring soured

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Adjective

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sour (feminine soure, masculine plural sours, feminine plural soures)

  1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of sûr

Preposition

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sour

  1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of sur

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English sūr.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sour

  1. sour, acidic, bitter
  2. foul-smelling, rancid
  3. fermented, curdled
  4. unpleasant, unattractive
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • English: sour
  • Scots: sour

Etymology 2

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From Old French essorer.

Verb

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sour

  1. Alternative form of soren (“to soar”)

Romansch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin soror.

Noun

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sour f (plural sours)

  1. (Puter, Vallader) sister

Coordinate terms

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  • (in terms of gender):
    • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader) frar
    • (Puter) frer
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