super

See also: souper, Super, súper, süper, super-, and supèr-

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈs(j)uːpə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈs(j)upɚ/
  • Audio (CA)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːpə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: su‧per

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin super (“above”), from Pre-Italic or Proto-Indo-European *eks-uper, from *eḱs (“out of”) (English ex-), from *h₁eǵʰs + *uperi (English over). Cognate to hyper, from Ancient Greek.

Adjective

super (not comparable)

  1. Of excellent quality, superfine.
  2. better than average, better than usual; wonderful.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Adverb

super (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Very; extremely (used like the prefix super-).
    The party was super awesome.

Etymology 2

Short for superintendent.

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. (informal, US) Abbreviation of superintendent in the sense of a building's resident manager, sometimes clarified as "building super".

Etymology 3

Short for superannuation.

Noun

super (usually uncountable, plural supers)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) Short form of superannuation, the Australian/New Zealand retirement benefits or pension scheme.
    Jane looked forward to collecting a large super payout when she retired.

Etymology 4

Short for superhive.

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. (beekeeping) An empty box placed above the existing boxes of the beehive in order to allow the colony to expand or store additional honey.
Synonyms
Antonyms

Verb

super (third-person singular simple present supers, present participle supering, simple past and past participle supered)

  1. (beekeeping) To add or to place a super atop the existing boxes of the beehive.
    • 1917 Dadant, C. P., First Lessons in Beekeeping; revised & rewritten edition, 1968, by M. G. Dadant and J. C. Dadant, p 73:
      The question is: when is the best time to super?

Etymology 5

Short for superhero.

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. (comics, slang) superhero.
    • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:super.

Etymology 6

Short for supernumerary.

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. (theater) Someone outside the normal company, but appearing on stage with no lines to speak.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre‎:
      For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.

Etymology 7

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. A supercomputer.
    • 1989, Kai Hwang, ‎Doug DeGroot, Parallel processing for supercomputers and artificial intelligence
      The performances and cost ranges of three classes of commercial supercomputers are given in Table 2.1. The full-scale supers are the most expensive class, represented by Cray, ETA, and Fujitsu systems, for example.

Etymology 8

Short for supernatural.

Noun

super (plural supers)

  1. A person who has supernatural beliefs, distinguished from a bright.

Etymology 9

  1. Idiom from sarcastic declension. Something not "super" (good), and therefore of ironic reference.

Anagrams

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English super, French super, from Latin super.

Adjective

super (indeclinable)

  1. (informal) super, great
    Můj brácha si koupil super auto, to musíš vidět!
    Ten výlet byl prostě super!

Usage notes

This word is slightly more formal than supr, yet still informal.

Synonyms

See also

Interjection

super

  1. (informal) super

Synonyms

Further reading

  • super in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English super.

Adverb

super

  1. (informal) very

Synonyms

Esperanto

Etymology

From Latin super.

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)

Preposition

super

  1. above

Antonyms

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin super. Doublet of the inherited sur. See also hyper, borrowed from Ancient Greek.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sy.pɛʁ/

Adjective

super (invariable)

  1. superb, great

Adverb

super

  1. (informal) extremely, very (as an intensifier)
    Il est super beau
    he's very handsome
Synonyms

Interjection

super

  1. great, fantastic

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sy.pe/

Verb

super

  1. (regional) to suck, to sip
Conjugation

Anagrams

Further reading

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English super.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈzuːpɐ/
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

super (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) super, great, awesome

Declension

Synonyms

Further reading

Interlingua

Preposition

super

  1. about (focused on a given topic)

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin super. Cf. sopra.

Adjective

super (invariable)

  1. super

Noun

super m (invariable)

  1. The best
  2. superphosphate

super f (invariable)

  1. The best grade of petrol

Anagrams

Latin

FWOTD – 16 August 2013

Etymology

From *eks-uper, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out of”) (Latin ex) and *uperi (“above”), from *upo. The latter is cognate to Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, “above”) and Proto-Germanic *uber (English over).

Pronunciation

Preposition

super (+ accusative or ablative)

  1. accusative [of place] above, on the top of, upon
    Cibus super mensam est.
    The food is on the table.
  2. accusative [of place] above, beyond
    • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Genesis.1.2
      terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebrae super faciem abyssi et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas
      And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.
  3. accusative [of measure] above, beyond, over, in addition to

Usage notes

  • With the ablative super means 'concerning'.
  • Used in many compound words, see super-.

Quotations

  • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:super.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • super in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • super in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • super in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
  • Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the river is over its banks, is in flood: flumen super ripas effunditur
  • super in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English super.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsu.pɛr/

Adjective

super (indeclinable, comparative bardziej super, superlative najbardziej super)

  1. (colloquial) great, excellent

Adverb

super (comparative bardziej super, superlative najbardziej super)

  1. (colloquial) excellently

See also

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin super; cf. also English super. Doublet of the inherited sobre.

Adverb

super (not comparable)

  1. (intensifier) very, excessively, exceedingly
    super legal - very nice

Adjective

super (invariable, comparable)

  1. super

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin super; cf. also English super. Doublet of the inherited sobre.

Adjective

super (invariable)

  1. (intensifier) very, mega

Swedish

Verb

super

  1. present tense of supa.
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