different between familiar vs near

English

Etymology

From Latin famili?ris (“pertaining to servants; pertaining to the household”). Doublet of familial. Displaced native Old English h?wc?þ.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /f??m?l.i.?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??m?l.j?/, /f??m?l.i.?/, /f??m?l.j?/
• (US)

Adjective

familiar (comparative more familiar, superlative most familiar)

1. Known to one, or generally known; commonplace.

2. Acquainted.

3. Intimate or friendly.
4. Inappropriately intimate or friendly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Camden to this entry?)

5. Of or pertaining to a family; familial.
   • 1822, Lord Byron, Werner

     familiar feuds

Synonyms

• (acquainted): acquainted
• (intimate, friendly): close, friendly, intimate, personal
• (inappropriately intimate or friendly): cheeky, fresh, impudent

Antonyms

• (known to one): unfamiliar, unknown
• (acquainted): unacquainted
• (intimate): cold, cool, distant, impersonal, standoffish, unfriendly

Derived terms

• overfamiliar
• familiarity
• familiarly

Related terms

• familial

Translations

Noun

familiar (plural familiars)

1. (witchcraft) An attendant spirit, often in animal or demon form.
2. (obsolete) A member of one's family or household.
3. A member of a pope's or bishop's household.
4. (obsolete) A close friend.
5. (historical) The officer of the Inquisition who arrested suspected people.

Synonyms

• nigget

Translations

See also

• daimon (a tutelary spirit that guides a person)

Further reading

• Familiar in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin famili?ris.

Adjective

familiar (masculine and feminine plural familiars)

1. familiar

Derived terms

• familiaritzar
• familiarment
• unifamiliar

Related terms

• familiaritat

Noun

familiar m or f (plural familiars)

1. relative

Related terms

• família

Further reading

• “familiar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “familiar” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “familiar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “familiar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin famili?ris.

Adjective

familiar m or f (plural familiares)

1. of family
2. close, familiar
3. daily, plain

Noun

familiar m (plural familiares)

1. relative

Synonyms

• parente
• achegado

Related terms

• familia
• familiaridade
• familiarizar

Further reading

• “familiar” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

familiar m

1. indefinite plural of familie

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin famili?ris.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /f?.mi.?lja?/

Adjective

familiar m or f (plural familiares, comparable)

1. familiar (known to one)
2. of or relating to a family

Derived terms

• familiarmente

Related terms

• familiaridade

Noun

familiar m (plural familiares)

1. (usually in the plural) relative (person in the same family)
2. familiar (attendant spirit)

   Synonym: espírito familiar

Related terms

• família

Further reading

• “familiar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

From French familier, from Latin familiaris.

Adjective

familiar m or n (feminine singular familiar?, masculine plural familiari, feminine and neuter plural familiare)

1. familiar

Declension

Related terms

• familiaritate

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin famili?ris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fami?lja?/, [fa.mi?lja?]

Adjective

familiar (plural familiares)

1. familial, family
2. close, familiar
3. daily, plain

Derived terms

Noun

familiar m (plural familiares)

1. relative, family member

   Synonym: miembro de la familia, pariente

Related terms

• familia
• familiaridad
• familiarizar

Further reading

• “familiar” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English n?ar (“nearer”, comparative of n?ah (“nigh”)), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *n?hwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *n?hw (“near”). Cognate with Old Frisian ni?r (“nearer”), Dutch naar (“to, towards”), German näher (“nearer”), Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”). See also nigh.

Near appears to be derived from (or at the very least influenced by) the North Germanic languages; compare Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”), as opposed to nigh, which continues the inherited West Germanic adjective, like Dutch na (“close, near”), German nah (“close, near, nearby”), Luxembourgish no (“nearby, near, close”). Both, however, are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Germanic root: *n?hw (“near, close”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /n??(?)/
• (US) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /n??/
• (near–square merger) IPA^(key): /n??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Adjective

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. Physically close.

   I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.

   Stay near at all times.

   Synonym: close

   Antonym: remote

2. Close in time.

3. Closely connected or related.

   The deceased man had no near relatives.
4. Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.

   A matter of near consequence to me.

5. Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.

6. So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.

7. Approximate, almost.

8. (Britain, in relation to a vehicle) On the side nearest to the kerb (the left-hand side if one drives on the left).

   Antonym: off

9. (dated) Next to the driver, when he is on foot; (US) on the left of an animal or a team.

10. (obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
11. (now rare) Stingy; parsimonious. [from 17th c.]

    Don't be near with your pocketbook.

    • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:

      “[T]o let you know, Miss, he's so near, it's partly a wonder how he lives at all: and yet he's worth a power of money, too.”

Synonyms

• (physically close): see also Thesaurus:near

Antonyms

• (physically close): see also Thesaurus:distant

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. At or towards a position close in space or time. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. Nearly; almost.

   He was near unconscious when I found him.

   I jumped into the near-freezing water.

   I near ruptured myself trying to move the piano.

   • 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence, (1867)

     […] he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France […]

   • 1825, David Hume, Tobias George Smollett, The History of England, page 263

     Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse.

   • 2003, Owen Parry, Honor's Kingdom, page 365

     Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound.

   • 2004, Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land page 315

     "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

   • 2006, Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror, page 377

     The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark.

Usage notes

The sense of nearly or almost is dialect, colloquial, old-fashioned or poetic in certain uses, such as, in many cases, when near is used to directly modify a verb.

Derived terms

• near-minimal pair
• near-sighted

Translations

Preposition

near

2. Physically close to, in close proximity to.
   • 1820, Mary Shelley, Maurice, or The Fisher's Cot:

     He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space:

     It shied, balked, and whinnied, and in the end he could do nothing but drive it into the yard while the men used their own strength to get the heavy wagon near enough the hayloft for convenient pitching.
3. Close to in time.

4. Close to in nature or degree.

   His opinions are near the limit of what is acceptable.

Usage notes

Joan Maling (1983) shows that near is best analysed as an adjective with which the use of to is optional, rather than a preposition. It has the comparative and the superlative, and it can be followed by enough. The use of to however is usually British.

Antonyms

• far from

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

near (third-person singular simple present nears, present participle nearing, simple past and past participle neared)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To come closer to; to approach.

Translations

See also

• near on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• para-
• nigh

Noun

near (plural nears)

1. The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc.

   Synonym: near side

   Antonym: off side

See also

• nearside

References

• near at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.

Anagrams

• Arne, EARN, Earn, Nera, eRNA, earn, erna, nare, rean

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ne.ar/, [?neär]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ne.ar/, [?n???r]

Verb

near

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of ne?

Latvian

Verb

near

1. 2nd person singular present indicative form of neart
2. 3rd person singular present indicative form of neart
3. 3rd person plural present indicative form of neart
4. 2nd person singular imperative form of neart
5. (with the particle lai) 3rd person singular imperative form of neart
6. (with the particle lai) 3rd person plural imperative form of neart

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• ne n

Etymology

From Old Norse niðar, nominative and accusative plural of nið f (“waning moon”).

Noun

near pl (definite plural neane)

1. a lunar phase of an old moon, i.e. period of time in which the moon is waning

   Antonym: ny

References

• “ne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• aner, Arne, Erna, nare, rane, rena, Rena

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English nevere, from Old English n?fre.

Adverb

near

1. never

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN