sabre

• saber (chiefly US)

Borrowed from French sabre, from German Säbel, from Polish szabla, from Hungarian szablya. Cognate with Danish sabel, Russian са́бля (sáblja), Serbo-Croatian сабља, Sicilian sciàbbula.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.bə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.bɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: sa‧bre

sabre (plural sabres)

1. (British spelling, Canadian spelling) A light sword with a curved blade, sharp along the front edge, part of the back edge, and at the point.
   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 6:

     Jewan Sadit, who ſtood before the prince, obſerving his youthful temerity, threw himſelf between him and danger, and with a nervous arm, wielding a ſharp ſabre, of the hard tempered ſteel of Damiſk, ruſhing upon the tyger, he ſtruck him acroſs the forehead.

2. (British spelling, Canadian spelling, fencing) A modern fencing sword modeled after the sabre.

This spelling has become relatively common in the United States due to the Buffalo Sabres hockey team as well as the occasional tendency to use British spellings for archaic nouns (compare theater versus theatre).

sabre (third-person singular simple present sabres, present participle sabring, simple past and past participle sabred)

1. (British spelling, Canadian spelling, transitive) To strike or kill with a sabre.
2. (British spelling, Canadian spelling, transitive) To open (a bottle) via sabrage.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:sabre.

• en coup de sabre
• sabrer
• sabreur

• saber, bares, rabes, besra, Saber, Bears, baser, Brase, barse, bears, BSAer, Breas, Bares, braes

sabre m (plural sabres)

1. alternative form of sable

• sable

sabre

1. sabre, saber

Borrowed from French sabre, from German Säbel.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈsa.βɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈsa.bɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈsa.bɾe]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

sabre m (plural sabres)

1. sabre
2. the silver scabbardfish (Lepidopus caudatus)

   Synonyms: cinturó, serp de mar

• sabre cuafí
• sabre de sant Simó
• sabrista

• “sabre”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “sabre”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “sabre” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “sabre” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From German Säbel.

• IPA^(key): /sabʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

sabre m (plural sabres)

1. a single-edged sword
2. the force, arms
3. cutlassfish

• avaleur de sabre
• sabre au clair
• sabre laser
• tigre à dents de sabre

• → English: sabre

• “sabre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• baser, brase, brasé

• IPA^(key): /ˈsa.bre/
• Rhymes: -abre
• Hyphenation: sà‧bre

sabre m or f by sense (invariable)

1. alternative form of sabra

sabre (invariable)

1. alternative form of sabra

• serba

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

sabre m (plural sabres)

1. sand

• AEDLL

Borrowed from French sabre, from German Säbel, from Hungarian szablya.

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -abɾi, (Portugal) -abɾɨ
• Hyphenation: sa‧bre

sabre m (plural sabres)

1. sabre (military weapon)
2. sabre (fencing weapon)

• espada, esgrima, florete

• “sabre” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “sabre”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “sabre”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025