schier

From Middle High German schier, from Old High German skiaro (“fast, immediately”). Cognate with German schier.

• IPA^(key): /ʃiər/

schier

1. almost, nearly

• IPA^(key): /sxiːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: schier
• Rhymes: -iːr

From Middle Dutch schiere, from Old Dutch *skīr, from Proto-Germanic *skīriz.

schier

1. (formal) almost
2. (obsolete) quickly

• schiereiland

schier (not comparable)

1. (archaic, dialectal) fast, quick

From Middle Dutch schier, from Old Dutch scieri, from Proto-Germanic [Term?].

schier (not comparable)

1. (dialectal) neat, tidy, proper
2. (archaic, dialectal) grey, in particular light grey
3. (dialectal, especially of soil) infertile
4. (dialectal, of cattle) lean, well-shaped, not fat
5. (obsolete) white

• Schiermonnikoog

• IPA^(key): /ʃiːɐ̯/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

From Middle High German schir (“immediate, quick”) (adv. schire), Old High German skeri (“sharp, acute, quick, rapid”), likely cognate with Old Church Slavonic скоръ (skorŭ, “rapid”) (Russian ско́рый (skóryj)), Lithuanian skėrỹs (“grasshopper”), Ancient Greek σκαίρειν (skaírein, “to jump”); if so, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerd- (“to move, sway, swing, jump”).^[1]

Grimm assumes partial conflation with scheir (“pure, bright”) (English sheer).

schier (strong nominative masculine singular schierer, comparative schierer, superlative am schiersten)

1. next, adjacent, immediate, soon, sudden

schier

1. soon, nearly, almost

   Synonyms: fast, beinahe

   schier unmöglich ― almost impossible

   • 1545, Martin Luther, transl., Biblia: Das ist: Die gantze Heilige Schrifft, Deudsch, Auffs new zugericht, Isaiah 21:11:

     Hüter ist die nacht schier hin?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1851, Heinrich Heine, “Rhampsenit”, in Romanzero‎^[1], Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe:

     Auch die Schwarzen, die Eunuchen, / Stimmten lachend ein, es lachten / Selbst die Mumien, selbst die Sphinxe, / Daß sie schier zu bersten dachten.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2022 December 5, Benno Stieber, “Rilke-Erbe für Marbach: Nachlass der Superlative”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Es ist nicht so, dass dieser schier unüberschaubare Einblick in die geistige Arbeit Rilkes bisher unbekannt oder unzugänglich gewesen wäre.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Borrowed from Low German, adopted in High German in the 18th century, the High German equivalent scheir gradually falling out of use; or from Middle High German schīr, all ultimately from the root of scheinen (“to shine”).

Cognate with scheuern (“to scour”), English sheer, Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”).

schier (strong nominative masculine singular schierer, comparative schierer, superlative am schiersten)

1. pure, undiluted, clear, bright, sheer

   Synonyms: bloß, rein

   • 1910, Rainer Maria Rilke, Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge [The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge]‎^[3]; republished as John Linton, transl., The Journal of my other Self, 1930:

     Mädchen in meiner Heimat. Daß die schönste von euch im Sommer an einem Nachmittag in der verdunkelten Bibliothek sich das kleine Buch fände, das Jan des Tournes 1556 gedruckt hat. Daß sie den kühlenden, glatten Band mitnähme hinaus in den summenden Obstgarten oder hinüber zum Phlox, in dessen übersüßtem Duft ein Bodensatz schierer Süßigkeit steht.

     Girls in my native land! May the loveliest of you on an afternoon in summer find in the dim library the little book that Jean de Tournes printed in 1556. May she take the cool, smooth volume out with her into the murmurous orchard, or to the phlox beyond, in whose over-luscious perfume hangs an essence of sheer sweetness.

   • 2025 August 10, Beate Scheder, “KI und der Gedankenstrich: Er setzt den schieren Gedanken voraus”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[4], →ISSN:

     KI und der Gedankenstrich: Er setzt den schieren Gedanken voraus [title]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (of meat, regional, chiefly Northern Germany) without bones, fat, or tendons

   Antonym: durchwachsen

• “schier, fast, nahezu” in Duden online
• “schier, bloß, genuin, pur” in Duden online
• “schier” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Middle Low German schîr, from Old Saxon skīr, Proto-West Germanic *skīr, from Proto-Germanic *skīriz, from Proto-Indo-European *sḱēy- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃiːɾ/

schier (comparative schierer, superlative schierst)

1. pure, clear, bright, sheer
2. clean
3. neat, tidy
4. pure, unmixed, unblended
5. (together with maken) finished, disposed, clean

• Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)