err

verb
/ɜː/UK/ɛɚ/US/ɛr/

Etymology

From Middle English erren, from Old French errer (“to wander, err, mistake”), from Latin errō (“wander, stray, err, mistake”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to be angry, lose one's temper”). Cognate with Old English eorre, ierre (“anger, wrath, ire”), Old English iersian (“to be angry with, rage, irritate, provoke”), Old English ierre (“wandering, gone astray, confused”).

  1. derived from *h₁ers-
  2. derived from errō
  3. derived from errer
  4. inherited from erren

Definitions

  1. To make a mistake.

    • He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.
    • Artificial tests, then, can hardly err on the side of supplying too many opportunities for one bird to see another perform the act which is the model.
    • Gorbachev’s phrase, “fear to err,” is strikingly reminiscent of President Roosevelt’s phrase, “nothing to fear but fear itself.”
  2. To sin.

    • To err is human, to forgive, divine.
  3. to stray.

  4. + 1 more definition
    1. Elongated form of er (“sound of hesitation”).

      • Err... what did you just say?

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at err. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01err02sin03violation04violated05harmed06harm07misfortune08luck09fortune10slip

A definitional loop anchored at err. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at err

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA