martyr

Etymology

From Middle English martir, from Old English martir, itself a borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmɐːtə(ɹ)/, [ˈmɐːtə(ɹ)], [ˈmɐːɾə(ɹ)]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːtə(ɹ)/^[1]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹ.tɚ/, [ˈmɑɹ.ɾɚ]^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mar‧tyr

Noun

martyr (plural martyrs)

1. One who willingly accepts being put to death for adhering openly to one's religious beliefs; notably, saints canonized after martyrdom.

   Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

2. (by extension) One who sacrifices his or her life, station, or something of great personal value, for the sake of principle or to sustain a cause.
3. (with a prepositional phrase of cause) One who suffers greatly and/or constantly, even involuntarily.

   Stan is a martyr to arthritis, Chris a martyr to Stan's endless moaning about it.

   • 1937, AJ Cronin, The Citadel:

     He'd been a martyr to asthma all his life.

Verb

martyr (third-person singular simple present martyrs, present participle martyring, simple past and past participle martyred)

1. (transitive) To make someone into a martyr by putting him or her to death for adhering to, or acting in accordance with, some belief, especially religious; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.
2. (transitive) To persecute.

   Some religious and other minorities were martyred until extinction.

3. (transitive) To torment; to torture.

   The lovely Amoret, whose gentle heart

   Thou martyrest with sorrow and with smart. — Spenser

References

Noun

martyr c (singular definite martyren, plural indefinite martyrer)

1. martyr

References

• “martyr” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.tiʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

martyr m (plural martyrs, feminine martyre)

1. martyr

Further reading

• “martyr” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tyr/, [ˈmar.tʏr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmar.tir/

Noun

martyr m, f (genitive martyris); third declension

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) martyr, especially a Christian martyr

References

• martyr in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• martyr in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Noun

martyr m (plural martyrs)

1. (religion) martyr

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Noun

martyr m (definite singular martyren, indefinite plural martyrer, definite plural martyrene)

1. martyr

References

• “martyr” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin martyr, from Ancient Greek μάρτυρ (mártur), later form of μάρτυς (mártus, “witness”).

Noun

martyr m (definite singular martyren, indefinite plural martyrar, definite plural martyrane)

1. martyr

References

• “martyr” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -yːr

Noun

martyr c

1. martyr