cair

From Middle English cairen, kayren, from Old Norse keyra (“to whip, lash, fling, toss, prick on, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *kaurijaną (“tu turn, sweep”). Cognate with Icelandic keyra (“to run, drive, urge”), Swedish köra (“to drive, go, run”), Danish køre (“to drive”), Norwegian Bokmål kjøre (“to drive”), Norwegian Nynorsk køyra (“to drive”), Old English ċierran (“to turn, change, go, come”). More at char.

cair (third-person singular simple present cairs, present participle cairing, simple past and past participle caired)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To go.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To carry.
3. (transitive, dialectal) To toss backwards and forwards; mix up; overhandle; stir about.

cair (plural cairs)

1. Alternative form of caer (“Welsh fortress”).

• ACIR, AICR, Acri, CIRA, CRIA, Cira, Crai, arci, cria

From Malay cair.

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃaɪr]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧ir

cair (comparative lebih cair, superlative paling cair)

1. liquid: flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure

   Synonym: likuid

2. thin: of low viscosity or low specific gravity

   Synonym: encer

   Antonyms: beku, kental, pekat

3. (figurative) fluid: convertible into cash
4. (figurative) able to disbursed
5. (figurative) leaked: of a document, etc, produced by a company or organization, intended to be confidential but having been released to the public or the press

   Synonym: bocor

6. (figurative) weak

   Synonym: lemah

• “cair” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• (Johor-Riau) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃae(r)/ [ˈt͡ʃae(r)]
  • Rhymes: -er, -e
• (Baku) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃair/ [ˈt͡ʃa.ir]
  • Rhymes: -ir
• Hyphenation: ca‧ir

cair (Jawi spelling چاءير)

1. liquid: flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure.
2. thin: of low viscosity or low specific gravity.

   Antonym: kental

3. (figurative) fluid: convertible into cash.
4. (figurative) leaked: of a document, etc, produced by a company or organization, intended to be confidential but having been released to the public or the press.

   Synonym: bocor

5. (figurative) weak

   Synonym: lemah

• “cair” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

From Middle Irish cóir, from Old Irish coaïr, cóir.

• IPA^(key): /kɛːrʲ/

cair

1. just, right
2. due

cair f (genitive singular cair, plural cairyn)

1. property
2. rights, privilege

• aggair
• neuchairagh
• neuchairys

Univerbation of cía (“what?”) +‎ air (“for”),^[1] although the existence of Middle Welsh pyr (“why?”) suggests the univerbation may have happened already in Proto–Insular Celtic.

Thurneysen suggests that the above etymology applies only to the sense “why?”, while the interrogative particle is from Latin quaere.^[2] This seems unnecessary, especially since quaere itself is never used this way.

• IPA^(key): [karʲ]

cair

1. why?

cair

1. particle introducing a direct question, generally used in addition to another question word such as in or a wh-word

• c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 5^b11

  Cair in sí a méit fris·comartatar co ndo⟨d⟩sitis huili a fide Christi? Non; do nertad Iude trá inso lessom.

  Have they offended so greatly that all should fall from the faith of Christ? No; he considers this, then, for the exhortation of the Jews.

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 cair”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• cahir (pre-reform spelling)

From Old Galician-Portuguese caer, from Late Latin cadēre, from Latin cadĕre, from Proto-Italic *kadō, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- (“to fall”). Cognate with Galician caer and Spanish caer.

• Homophone: caí (Brazil, only with a dropped -r)
• Hyphenation: ca‧ir

cair (first-person singular present caio, first-person singular preterite caí, past participle caído) (intransitive)

1. to fall; to fall down; to drop

   A maçã caiu. ― The apple fell.

   • 1938, Graciliano Ramos, “Mudança [A New Home]”, in Vidas Seccas [Barren Lives], Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora, page 15:

     Saciado, cahiu de papo para cima, olhando as estrellas, que vinham nascendo.

     Satisfied, he fell belly-up, looking at the stars, which were coming up.

2. to fall (to fall so it is no longer attached to or on top of something) [with de ‘from’]

   O livro caiu da mesa. ― The book fell from the table.

   A maçã caiu do galho. ― The apple fell from the branch.

3. (figurative) to fall; to collapse (to be overthrown, defeated or annulled)

   O novo governo logo cairá. ― The new government will fall soon.

4. to suit (to be appropriate or suitable), to be fitting [with bem ‘well’ or mal ‘badly’, along with com or em ‘someone’]

   Um vestido preto cairia bem nela. ― A black dress would suit her well.

   Um vinhozinho cai bem. ― Some wine would be nice.

5. to go down (of food) (to be eaten with or without causing indigestion) [with bem ‘well’ or mal ‘badly’]

   Essa pizza podre me caiu mal. ― This rotten pizza didn’t go down well.

6. to fall, to decrease (to lower in value or quantity)

   Espero que o preço dos livros caia. ― I hope that the price of the books falls.

7. to get disconnected, to be interrupted (of a call or connection)

   Caiu a ligação. ― The connection dropped.

8. (euphemistic) to fall (to die in battle)

   Muitos dos nossos soldados caíram naquela guerra. ― Many of our soldiers fell in that war.

9. to be present (of a subject or question) [with em ‘in a test’]

   Caiu uma pergunta sobre a revolução. ― There was a question about the revolution.

   Eu não tinha estudado nada do que caiu na prova. ― I hadn’t studied anything that was in the test.

10. to be available (of money) [with em ‘in a bank account’]

    Meu salário já caiu na minha conta bancária. ― My salary is already available in my bank account.

11. to fall (to occur on a certain date) [with em ‘on a date’]

    Synonym: ocorrer

    • 2024 December 23, “Feriado de Natal: veja o que abre e o que fecha em Maceió”, in TV Gazeta‎^[1], Maceió: g1, archived from the original on 23 December 2024:

      Dia 24/12, véspera de Natal, cai na terça-feira. O dia 25/12, feriado de Natal, cai na quarta-feira.

      24/12, Christmas Eve, falls on a Tuesday. 25/12, Christmas holiday, falls on a Wednesday.

• Macanese: cai

• “cair” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913