sun
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: sŭn, IPA(key): /sʌn/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌn
- Homophone: son
Etymology 1
From Middle English sonne, sunne, from Old English sunne, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ (compare Saterland Frisian Sunne, West Frisian sinne, Low German Sünn, Dutch zon, German Sonne, Icelandic sunna), from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *sh₂wen- (“sun”) (compare Welsh huan, Sanskrit सूनु (sūnú), Avestan 𐬓𐬇𐬧𐬔 (xᵛə̄ṇg)), oblique of *sóh₂wl̥. More at solar.
Alternative forms

- (proper noun, star which the Earth revolves around): (capitalized) Sun
Proper noun
sun
- The star that the Earth revolves around and from which it receives light and warmth.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- 'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
Usage notes
- While the sun by tradition is typically regarded as masculine, the noun itself was originally feminine in grammatical gender.
Translations
Noun
sun (plural suns)
- (astronomy) A star, especially when seen as the centre of any single solar system.
- The light and warmth which is received from the sun.
- Shakespeare
- Lambs that did frisk in the sun.
- Shakespeare
- (figuratively) Something like the sun in brightness or splendor.
- Bible, Psalms lxxiv. 11
- For the Lord God is a sun and shield.
- Eikon Basilike
- I will never consent to put out the sun of sovereignity to posterity.
- Bible, Psalms lxxiv. 11
- (chiefly literary) Sunrise or sunset.
- 1609-11, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act III, Scene 2:
- Imogen: […] Pr'ythee, speak, / How many score of miles may we well ride / 'Twixt hour and hour / Pisanio: One score, 'twixt sun and sun, / Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too. / Imogen: Why, one that rode to his execution, man, / Could never go so slow.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970:, p.184 (republished 1832):
- whilst many an hunger-starved poor creature pines in the street, wants clothes to cover him, labours hard all day long, runs, rides for a trifle, fights peradventure from sun to sun, sick and ill, weary, full of pain and grief, is in great distress and sorrow of heart.
- 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, published 1873, page 357:
- I love these sons of earth every mother's son of them, with their great hearty hearts rushing tumultuously in herds from spectacle to spectacle, as if fearful lest there should not be time between sun and sun to see them all, and the sun does not wait more than in haying-time.
- 1962, Harry S. Truman, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, page 651:
- You see, the President has five jobs, any one of which would be more than a full-time job for one man; but I have to do all five of them between sun and sun.
- 1997, Alan Dean Foster, Howling Stones, page 149:
- “Tomorrow at first sun.” Not being much of a morning person, she winced internally. “First sun?” “It is the proper time, when the flowers of the pohoroh first open to the light.”
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- The nineteenth trump/major arcana card of the Tarot.
- (cartomancy) The thirty-first Lenormand card.
Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
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Verb
sun (third-person singular simple present suns, present participle sunning, simple past and past participle sunned)
- (transitive) To expose to the warmth and radiation of the sun.
- Synonym: apricate
- Beautiful bodies lying on the beach, sunning their bronzed limbs.
- 2000, William Laurance, Stinging Trees and Wait-a-Whiles: Confessions of a Rainforest Biologist
- There were lots of zany antics and we tried not to stare too obviously at the beautiful women toplessly sunning themselves...
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines. A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
- (transitive) To warm or dry in the sunshine.
- (intransitive) To be exposed to the sun.
- (intransitive, alternative medicine) To expose the eyes to the sun as part of the Bates method.
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Noun
sun (plural sun)
- A traditional Japanese unit of length, approximately 30.3 millimetres (1.193 inches).
Bambara
Usage notes
Often used in a compound with the name of a tree to indicate that kind of tree.
Etymology 2
From Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm, “fasting; abstaining from food, drink, and sex”), from Classical Syriac ܨܘܡܐ (ṣawmāʾ)
Bavarian
Etymology
From Middle High German sun, from Old High German sunu, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”). Cognate with German Sohn, Dutch zoon, English son, Icelandic sonur.
References
- “sun” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
Cimbrian
References
- Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
Finnish
Conjunction
sun
- (coordinating) A coordinating conjunction expressing generality.
- En nyt jouda, kun tässä on sitä sun tätä tekemistä.
- I don't have time for that because I have this and that to do (miscellaneous stuff/things to do).
- Lautanen oli täynnä makaroonilaatikkoa, makkaraa, salaattia, perunamuussia sun muuta pöperöä.
- The plate was full of macaroni casserole, sausage, salad, mashed potatoes and other grub.
- En nyt jouda, kun tässä on sitä sun tätä tekemistä.
Etymology 2
From the standard language form sinun (“your, yours”)
Friulian
Synonyms
- (music): musiche
Inari Sami
Etymology
From Proto-Samic *sonë.
Kaingang
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃudn/
References
- “sun” in Editora Esperança, Dicionário Kaingang-Português Português-Kaingang, Ursula Gojtéj Wiesemann, 2nd edition, 2011, page 83.
Mandarin
Romanization
sun
Usage notes
- English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English sunne.
References
- “sonne (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 June 2018.
Etymology 2
From Old English sunu.
Mimi of Nachtigal
Etymology
Similar to (and likely a borrowing of, or possibly the lender of) the word used for water in the "third Mimi" language, Amdang sunu, which in turn is (per Starostin) "most likely cognate with Fur suːn ‘waterhole, well’".
References
- George Starostin, On Mimi
North Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian sand, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz. Cognates include West Frisian sân.
Derived terms
- sunbeenk
- sunbonk
- sunglees
- sunig
- sunkast
- sunkurn
- sunkuuk
- sunküül
- sunpapiar
- sunrag
- sunseek
- sunskol
- sunstoof
- sunstrun
- suntoort
- sunwaal
- sunwai
Old Danish
Etymology
From Old Norse sonr, sunr, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz.
Quiripi
Romanian
Verb
sun
Scots
Etymology
From Old English sunne, from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, from heteroclitic inanimate Proto-Indo-European *séh₂wl (“sun”), oblique stem *sh₂wen-.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sʌn/, /sɪn/
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [sun˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ʂun˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʂʊwŋ͡m˧˧] ~ [sʊwŋ͡m˧˧]
Verb
sun
- (intransitive) to shrink
- (transitive) to pull together
- sun vai
- to pull one’s shoulders together
- sun vai
References
- "sun" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)