tiger

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Wikivoyage

• tigre (obsolete)
• tyger, tygre (dated)

From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.

• (Received Pronunciation, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪɡə/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: tī'gər, IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪɡɚ/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

  • (Inland Northern American, New England, some speakers) IPA^(key): [ˈtʌɪɡɚ]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɪɡə/
• Rhymes: -aɪɡə(ɹ)
• Homophone: taiga (non-rhotic)

tiger (plural tigers)

2. Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   Hypernym: felid

   Hyponyms: tiger cub, tigress

   1. A male tiger; as opposed to a tigress.

      Coordinate term: tigress

3. Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
   1. (inexact) A sabre-toothed tiger (any felid in subfamily †Machairodontinae).
   2. (inexact) A Tasmanian tiger, †Thylacinus cynocephalus.
   3. (obsolete) A jaguar.
      • 1887, James George Frazer, Totemism, page 20:

        Similar is the test among the Moxos of Peru. One of their totems is the tiger; and a candidate for the rank of medicine-man must prove his kinship to the tiger by being bitten by that animal and surviving the bite.

   4. Certain insects:
      1. A tiger moth in the family Arctiidae.
      2. A tiger beetle.
      3. Any of the three Australian species of black-and-yellow striped dragonflies of the genus Ictinogomphus.
      4. A tiger butterfly in tribe Danaini, especially subtribe Danaina.
4. (heraldry) A representation of a large mythological cat, used on a coat of arms.
   • 1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, page 69:

     The heraldic tiger is a mythical beast, quite unlike a real tiger which is described in heraldry as a Bengal tiger. The ordinary tiger has no stripes, has a horn protruding from its nose, has tusks like a boar and a tufted mane, and has a lion's tail instead of a tiger's.

5. (South Africa, dated but still used) A leopard.
   • 1907, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, Jock of the Bushveld, Longmans, published 1976, →ISBN, page 251:

     Jim remarked irrelevantly that tigers were 'schelms' and it was his conviction that there were a great many in the kloofs round about.

6. A relatively small country or group of countries with a fast-growing economy.
   • 2000, Jagdish Handa, Monetary Economics, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 709:

     In this scenario, the growth rates are higher for the economic tigers than for the other economies.

   • 2009, Fabrizio Tassinari, Why Europe Fears Its Neighbors, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 21:

     Then came the 2008 credit turmoil and ensuing economic slump, which not only belittled the huge economic and social gains of the various Baltic and Celtic Tigers, as well as of several former communist nations of Central Europe.

   • 2014, Emmanuel Akyeampong, Robert H. Bates, Nathan Nunn, James Robinson, Africa's Development in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 287:

     Once colonial or settler rule ended, such enterprises either lost the crutches of state support or became “white elephants,” draining resources from the wider economy. This was an important factor holding back the emergence of African tigers.

7. (obsolete) A servant in livery, who rides with his master or mistress.
   • 1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC:

     We arranged that I should come here alone in the London coach; and that he, leaving his tiger and cab behind him, should come on , and arrive here as soon as possible this afternoon

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XVII, The Beginnings”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

     The doom of Fate was, Be thou a Dandy! Have thy eye-glasses, opera-glasses, thy Long-Acre cabs with white-breeched tiger, thy yawning impassivities, pococurantisms; fix thyself in Dandyhood, undeliverable; it is thy doom.

8. (US, slang) A person who is very athletic during sexual intercourse.
   • 2010, Jeff Wilser, The Maxims of Manhood:

     Don't […] Tell your roommate that you heard the walls shaking all night, and it sounds like he's a real tiger in the sack.

9. (figurative) A ferocious, bloodthirsty and audacious person.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
     No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
     No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
     But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey.

10. A pneumatic box or pan used in refining sugar.

In heraldry, many writers use spellings such as tyger or tygre to distinguish the mythological beast from the natural tiger (also blazoned Bengal tiger), which also occurs in heraldry.

• Tigger
• tigrine

• → Fijian: taika
• → Maori: taika
• → Rarotongan: taika
• → Volapük: tigrid
• → Welsh: teigr

“tiger”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

From the mascot of Princeton (a tiger), which led to early cheerleaders calling out "Tiger" at the end of a cheer for the Princeton team.

tiger (plural tigers)

1. A final shouted phrase, accompanied by a jump or outstretched arms, at the end of a cheer.
   • 1868, Punch: Or the London Charivari - Volume 55, page 231:

     He spoke with a very strong Scotch accent, and is by no means a graceful orator, but he produced througout a most favourable impression upon all his hearers, and especially upon the students, one of whom shouted as the speaker closed, 'Long Live PRESIDENT M'COSH!' and then proposed three cheers, which were given with a will, followed by the usual tiger and ' rocket.'

   • 1941, Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington:

     . . . every blue coat in the audience sprang to his feet, with three times three and a tiger.

   • 2008, D. C. Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book: For Playground, Field, and Forest, page 413:

     One Brooklyn military company has a “tiger” composed of a provincial expression borrowed from the farmers. When drawled out by a hundred throats the phrase "I-wanter-know!" always produces a laugh.

• Tigre, Tigré, greit, tigre

Borrowed from English tiger.

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [ˈtiːɡɛr]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [ˈtiːɡɐr]

tiger m (plural tigres or tigri)

1. tiger

From German Tiger, from Latin tigris.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiːər/, [ˈtˢiːɐ]
• Homophone: tier

tiger c (singular definite tigeren, plural indefinite tigere or tigre)

1. tiger

• tigerøje

• “tiger” in Den Danske Ordbog

• tiker

Unknown. Most likely unrelated to Proto-Celtic *tigernos (“lord, ruler”).

tiger

1. our

• Villamor, Fernando (2020) A basic dictionary and grammar of the Iberian language

• tîgher, tyger

Borrowed from Old French tigre, from Latin tigris.

tiger m

1. tiger

• Dutch: tijger, tieger (archaic, dialectal), tiger (archaic, dialectal)
  • Afrikaans: tier
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: tigri
  • Sranan Tongo: tigri
  • → West Frisian: tijger
• Limburgish: tieger

• “tiger”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “tiger”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

tiger

1. alternative form of tygre

From Latin tigris.

tiger m (definite singular tigeren, indefinite plural tigere or tigre or tigrer, definite plural tigerne or tigrene)

1. a tiger (Panthera tigris)

• sabeltanntiger

• “tiger” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin tigris.

tiger m (definite singular tigeren, indefinite plural tigrar, definite plural tigrane)

1. a tiger (Panthera tigris)

• sabeltanntiger

• “tiger” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-West Germanic *tīgr (“tiger”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈti.ɡer/, [ˈti.ɣer]

tiger m (nominative plural tigras)

1. tiger
   • c. 1000, Ælfric of Eynsham (tr.), Hexameron of St. Basil:

     Hwæt ðā God ġeworhte ðurh his wunderlīċan mihte eall nȳtencynn on heora cynrynum, and ðā wildan dēor ðe on wudum eardiað, and eall ðæt fīðerfōte byð of ðǣre foresǣdan eorðan, and eall wyrmcynn ðā ðe crēopende bēoð, and ðā reðan lēon, ðe hēr on lande ne bēoð, and ðā swiftan tigres, and ðā syllican pardes, and ðā eġeslīċan beran, and ðā ormǣtan ylpas.

     Then, through his wonderful might, God created all the kinds of animals according to their kinds, and the wild animals that dwell in the woods, and all the four-footed creatures of the aforementioned earth, and all the kinds of creeping reptiles, and the savage lions, which do not live here, and the swift tigers, and the marvelous leopards, and the fearful bears, and the huge elephants.

Strong a-stem:

• tigrisċ

• Middle English: tygre, tygur, tygyr, tigre, tiger, teger, tegre (partially from Old French)
  • English: tiger, tyger, tygre (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: teeger

Ultimately from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)).

• IPA^(key): /tìːɡər/

tígər m anim (female equivalent tīgrica)

1. tiger

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine anim., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	tíger
gen. sing.	tígra
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	tíger	tígra	tígri
genitive (rodȋlnik)	tígra	tígrov	tígrov
dative (dajȃlnik)	tígru	tígroma	tígrom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	tígra	tígra	tígre
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	tígru	tígrih	tígrih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	tígrom	tígroma	tígri

• “tiger”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

• IPA^(key): /¹tiːɡɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

tiger c

1. tiger (animal)

   Tigrar har ränder

   Tigers have stripes

   Det är lätt att blanda ihop lejon och tigrar

   It's easy to mix up lions and tigers

   • 1995, Charta 77, “Lilla björn och lilla tiger [Little bear and little tiger]”, in Tecken i tiden [Sign of the times]‎^[1]:

     En björn och en tiger mot drömmarnas land, där solen som stiger alltid är varm. Tillsammans på stigen som leder dom fram.

     A bear and a tiger towards the land of dreams, where the sun that rises ["the rising sun" is "den uppgående solen" instead] is always warm. Together on the path that leads them forward.

• katt
• lejon

tiger

1. present indicative of tiga

• tiger in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• tiger in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• tiger in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH

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

tiger c (plural tigers, diminutive tigerke)

1. tiger

• “tiger”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011