different between peter vs pierre

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pi?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?pit?/, /?pi??/
• Rhymes: -i?t?(?)
• Homophone: pita (non-rhotic accents)
• Hyphenation: pe?ter

Etymology 1

US, 1902, presumably from shared initial pe-. Compare the use of other men’s names as a slang term for the penis, e.g., dick, willy, John Thomas, etc.

Noun

peter (plural peters)

1. (slang) The penis.
   • 1997: Shelby Scates, Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America [2]

     You smile, act polite, shake their hands, then cut off their peters and put them in your pocket.” “Yes, Mr. President,” answered O'Brien.

   • 1998: Michael Robert Gorman, The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of Jose Sarria [3]

     ... and you were there, and they acted like you weren't even born yet?' "I'd say, 'Yes, their memories are as long as their peters.'"

   • 2002: Celia H Miles, Mattie's Girl: An Appalachian Childhood [4]

     “It's to put on their peters when they don't want to make babies,” she said.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

peter (plural peters)

1. (Britain, slang) A safe.

   Synonym: pete

   • 1963, Kenneth Ullyett, Crime out of Hand (page 109)

     It used to be simple to 'crack a peter'. Safe-breaking (blowing or cracking a 'peter') in the past three or four years shows that the expert cracksman knows his job.

Derived terms

• peterman

Etymology 3

1812, US miners’ slang, Unknown. Various speculative etymologies have been suggested. One suggestion is that it comes from peter being an abbreviation of saltpeter, the key ingredient in gunpowder – when a mine was exhausted, it was “petered”. Other derivations are from St. Peter (from sense of “rock”), or French péter (“to fart”).

Verb

peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)

1. (most often used in the phrase peter out) To dwindle; to trail off; to diminish to nothing.
   • 2021, Helen Fisher, Faye, Faraway (page 241)

     My words petered away.

Usage notes

Originally used independently, but today most often in the derived phrase peter out.

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

peter (third-person singular simple present peters, present participle petering, simple past and past participle petered)

1. (card games, intransitive) Synonym of blue peter

References

Anagrams

• Peret, Petre, Prete, peert, petre, repet.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch peter, from petrijn, from Latin patr?nus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pe?.t?r/
• Hyphenation: pe?ter
• Rhymes: -e?t?r

Noun

peter m (plural peters, feminine meter)

1. A godfather.

   Synonym: peetoom

Finnish

Verb

pierre

1. Potential present connegative form of pierrä.

French

Etymology

From Middle French pierre, Old French pierre, from Latin petra, a borrowing from Ancient Greek ????? (pétra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pj??/
• Rhymes: -j??

Noun

pierre f (plural pierres)

1. (uncountable) stone (substance)
2. stone (rock, a pebble)

Derived terms

See also

• caillou

Further reading

• “pierre” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• prière

Italian

Etymology

From the pronunciation of PR.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi??r.re/

Noun

pierre m or f (invariable)

1. Person who works in public relations

Anagrams

• perire, reperì

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French pierre.

Noun

pierre f (plural pierres)

1. stone

Descendants

• French: pierre

Old French

Alternative forms

• pere
• perre
• piere

Etymology

From Latin petra, from Ancient Greek ????? (pétra).

Noun

pierre f (oblique plural pierres, nominative singular pierre, nominative plural pierres)

1. stone (substance)

Descendants

• Middle French: pierre
  • French: pierre
• Walloon: pire