err
pronunciation
How to pronounce err in British English:
UK [ɜː(r)]
How to pronounce err in American English:
US [er]
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- Verb:
- to make a mistake or be incorrect
- wander from a direct course or at random
Word Origin
- err
- err: [14] Err, erratic [14], erroneous [14], and error [13] all go back to a prehistoric base *er-, which meant ‘wandering about’ (the semantic progression from ‘wandering’ to ‘making mistakes’ is reproduced in several other quite unrelated word groups in the Indo-European language family). This produced Gothic airzei ‘error’, Old High German irri ‘astray’ (source of modern German irre ‘angry’), Old English ierre ‘astray’, and Latin errāre ‘wander, make mistakes’ – from which, via Old French errer, English got err.=> erratic, error
- err (v.)
- c. 1300, from Old French errer "go astray, lose one's way; make a mistake; transgress," from Latin errare "wander, go astray," figuratively "be in error," from PIE root *ers- (1) "be in motion, wander around" (cognates: Sanskrit arsati "flows;" Old English ierre "angry; straying;" Old Frisian ire "angry;" Old High German irri "angry," irron "astray;" Gothic airziþa "error; deception;" the Germanic words reflecting the notion of anger as a "straying" from normal composure). Related: Erred; erring.
Example
- 1. Commerce laws to err is human , to forgive is not company policy
- 2. The rules on censorship are vague , and firms err on the side of caution .
- 3. Opponents of capital punishment tend to respond by saying that juries , being human , err .
- 4. It could identify too closely with the firms it regulates , and err in favour of financial stability rather than price stability when the two are at odds .
- 5. Even experienced personnel managers who claim to disregard appearances rate attractive men and women as more likeable and employable , but they then err on the side of caution in hiring male candidates and avoiding attractive women .