spire

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• Received-Pronunciation: spīr
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• Received-Pronunciation: spīʹər
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• Received-Pronunciation: /spaɪə/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspaɪ.ə/
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• General-American: spīʹər
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• General-American: /ˈspaɪ.ɚ/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• homophone: spier
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• rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
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• CMU ARPABET: S P AY1 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English spire, spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr, from Proto-Germanic *spīrō, *spīrǭ (“peak; point; tip; stalk”). Cognate with Dutch spier, German Low German Spier, German Spier, Spiere, Danish spir, Norwegian spir and spire, Swedish spira, Icelandic spíra.

From Middle French spire.

From Old French spirer, and its source, Latin spīrō (“to breathe”).

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Asturian: chipital — tapering architectural structure
• Bulgarian: шпил (špil) — tapering architectural structure
• Catalan: cuculla — tapering architectural structure
• Catalan: agulla — tapering architectural structure
• Chinese Mandarin: 尖塔 (jiāntǎ) — tapering architectural structure
• Chinese Mandarin: 尖頂 /尖顶 (jiānding) — tapering architectural structure
• Czech: špička — tapering architectural structure
• Czech: věžička — tapering architectural structure
• Danish: spir — tapering architectural structure
• Dutch: spits — tapering architectural structure
• Dutch: torenspits — tapering architectural structure
• Esperanto: spajro — tapering architectural structure
• Finnish: suippotorni — tapering architectural structure
• Finnish: torni — tapering architectural structure
• Finnish: spiira — tapering architectural structure
• French: flèche — tapering architectural structure
• German: Turmspitze — tapering architectural structure
• German: Turmhelm — tapering architectural structure
• Hungarian: templomtorony — tapering architectural structure
• Hungarian: toronytető — tapering architectural structure
• Hungarian: toronycsúcs — tapering architectural structure
• Hungarian: toronysisak — tapering architectural structure
• Icelandic: spíra — tapering architectural structure
• Icelandic: turnspíra — tapering architectural structure
• Ido: flecho — tapering architectural structure
• Irish: spuaic — tapering architectural structure
• Irish: stuaic — tapering architectural structure
• Italian: guglia — tapering architectural structure
• Italian: pinnacolo — tapering architectural structure
• Italian: cuspide — tapering architectural structure
• Japanese: 尖塔 (sentō) — tapering architectural structure
• Korean: 첨탑 (cheomtap) — tapering architectural structure
• Māori: koinga — tapering architectural structure
• Māori: koeko — tapering architectural structure
• Marathi: मनोरा (manorā) — tapering architectural structure
• Marathi: मेरुशिखर (meruśikhar) — tapering architectural structure
• Norwegian Bokmål: spir — tapering architectural structure
• Norwegian Nynorsk: spir — tapering architectural structure
• Polish: iglica — tapering architectural structure
• Portuguese: agulha — tapering architectural structure
• Portuguese: flecha — tapering architectural structure
• Portuguese: coruchéu — tapering architectural structure
• Russian: шпиль (špilʹ) — tapering architectural structure
• Russian: шпиц (špic) — tapering architectural structure
• Spanish: chapitel — tapering architectural structure
• Spanish: aguja — tapering architectural structure
• Swedish: tornspira — tapering architectural structure
• Swedish: spira — tapering architectural structure
• Ukrainian: шпиль (špylʹ) — tapering architectural structure
• Bulgarian: пик (pik) — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Bulgarian: връх (vrǎh) — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Czech: špička — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Dutch: top — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Dutch: toppunt — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Finnish: kärki — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Finnish: huippu — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Hungarian: csúcs — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Hungarian: orom — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Hungarian: tetőcsúcs — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Italian: punta — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Māori: koinga — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Portuguese: topo — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Portuguese: ápice — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Portuguese: cume — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Portuguese: cúpula — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Russian: верху́шка (verxúška) — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit
• Russian: маку́шка (makúška) — top, or uppermost point, of anything; the summit