deer

From Middle English der, deer (“animal, deer”), from Old English dēor (“animal”), from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewsóm (“living thing”), from *dʰéws (“breath”), full-grade derivative of *dʰwes-.

Cognate with Scots deer (“deer”), North Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), West Frisian dier (“animal, beast”), Dutch dier (“animal, beast”), German Low German Deer, Deert (“animal”), German Tier (“animal, beast”), Swedish djur (“animal, beast”), Norwegian dyr (“animal, beast”), Icelandic dýr (“animal, beast”), Danish dyr (“animal, beast”).

Related also to Albanian dash (“ram”) (possibly), Lithuanian daũsos (“upper air; heaven”), Lithuanian dùsti (“to sigh”), Russian душа́ (dušá, “breath, spirit”), Lithuanian dvė̃sti (“to breathe, exhale”), Sanskrit ध्वंसति (dhvaṃsati, “he falls to dust”).

For the semantic development compare Latin animālis (“animal”), from anima (“breath, spirit”).

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪɹ/

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• (Scotland, some US) IPA^(key): /diːɹ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /diːɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /diə/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /dɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Homophones: dear; dare (cheer–chair merger)

deer (countable and uncountable, plural deer or (dated or nonstandard; occasionally used in the sense of more than one species) deers)

1. (countable) A ruminant mammal with hooves and often antlers, of the family Cervidae, or one of several similar animals from related families of the order Artiodactyla, such as the musk deer or mouse deer. quotations ▼
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 227:

     Deer sperm was in used among the Romans as an aphrodisiac.

   • 2012 December 2, Richard J. Goss, Deer Antlers: Regeneration, Function and Evolution, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 25:

     Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus)
     The musk deer is unique in several ways, reflecting its taxonomic separation from other deer (Flerov, 1952). For example , they are the only deer to possess a gall bladder […]

   • 2013 February 5, Anthony J. Whitten, Roehayat Emon Soeriaatmadja, Ecology of Java & Bali, Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN:

     The Java deer Cervus timorensis is now widespread […] This deer has become rather uncommon as the lowlands have been converted to rice and sugarcane, and the hills to coffee and other crops, while the smaller muntjac deer Muntiacus muntjak has persisted in many areas where there is some forest cover. The third and smallest deer on Java and Bali is the mouse deer Tragulus javanicus.

   1. (countable; in particular) A ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae. quotations ▼
      • 2024 July 23, Lilit Marcus, “Japan may be sick of mass tourism. But the deer in this ancient UNESCO-listed city love it”, in CNN‎^[1]:

        Nara and its deer are so closely associated that the light-brown colored animals are pictured in the city’s tourism ads, on buses, train tickets and more.

   2. (countable; in particular) One of the smaller animals of the family Cervidae, distinguished from a moose or elk. quotations ▼

      I wrecked my car after a deer ran across the road.

      • 2020, Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind, Bloomsbury (2023), page 76:

        In the space beyond that, Rose saw a deer, with abbreviated velvet antlers and a cautious yet somehow also bored mien, considering her through dark, strangely human eyes.

2. (uncountable) The meat of such an animal, obtained through the process of hunting or from specialized deer farms; venison.

   Oh, I've never had deer before.

3. (countable; obsolete, except in the phrase "small deer") Any animal, especially a quadrupedal mammal as opposed to a bird, fish, etc. quotations ▼
   • 1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act III, scene IV:

     But mice and rats and such small deer, have been Tom's food for seven long year.

• (ruminant mammal): cervid

• buck, hart (male deer); doe, hind (female deer); fawn (young deer); stag (adult male deer)

• (ruminant mammal): barasingha, caribou, elk, moose, muntjak

• Sranan Tongo: dia

• -dere, Eder, Rede, Reed, de re, dere, dree, rede, reed

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• Rhymes: -eːr

deer

1. inflection of deren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• tëyer (Wiesemann spelling)

• IPA^(key): /ˈteːa/
• Rhymes: -eːa
• Syllabification: deer
• Homophone: Deer

From Middle High German it, from Old High German ir. Compare Luxembourgish dir.

deer

1. you (plural)
2. (formal) you (singular)

deer

1. stressed dative of du

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “deer”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch, page 32, column 2

• dier (some dialects, Maastrichtian)
  • dieer (Krefeld)
• deier (Sittard)
• deër (Southeast Limburgish)
  • Déër (Eupen)

From Middle Dutch dier, from Old Dutch dier, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą.

• IPA^(key): /deːʀ/
• Hyphenation: deer
• Rhymes: -eːʀ

deer n

1. pet
2. beast, animal

• bees

deer

1. (especially Late Middle English) alternative form of der (“deer”)

Compare Tem ɖeére.

• IPA^(key): /děːŕ/

deer (plural deera)

1. horse

• Bakabima, Koulon Stéphane; Nicole, Jacques (2018), Nawdm-French Dictionary‎^[2], SIL International

From Old Frisian dēr, thēr, from Proto-West Germanic *þār. More at there.

deer

1. there