moer

Borrowed from Afrikaans moer.

moer (third-person singular simple present moers, present participle moering, simple past and past participle moered)

1. (South Africa, transitive) To beat; to thrash.

moer (plural moers)

1. (South Africa) Something big or powerful; a whopper; a hell of a thing.
   • 2003, Justin Nurse, Chris Verrijdt, Laugh it Off Annual: South African Youth Culture, volume 1, page 71:

     Lying dead on the surface of the Monument dam was a moer of a big carp.

   • 2013, Jim Hooper, Koevoet: Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War, page 239:

     “Some of the teams are coming in,” he said. “They had a moer of a contact. Get your cameras and let's go.”

• -more, More, Rome, Moré, mero, Mero, omer, Omer, erom, Orme, mero-, more, Orem

• IPA^(key): [muːr]

From Dutch moer.

moer (plural moere)

1. nut: female screw, which fits on a bolt

   Ek draai die moer vas

2. seed tuber

From Dutch moer.

moer (uncountable)

1. dregs, lees, sediment (of liquid)

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

moer (present moer, present participle moerende, past participle gemoer)

1. to hit someone very hard

   Ek gaan jou hard moer. ― I'm gonna beat the shit out of you.

• → English: moer

• IPA^(key): /mur/, [muːr]
• Hyphenation: moer
• Rhymes: -ur

Contraction of moeder (“mother”) by regular syncope of medial /d/ (compare broer, blij, leer, la). Compare sense 2 with French mère de vinaigre.

moer f (plural moeren, diminutive moertje n)

1. (rare, archaic) mother
3. sediment formed in various alcoholic drinks and vinegar
4. a queen bee
5. a female hare
6. a female rabbit
7. a female ferret, a jill
8. the main in a structure; general version

• (mother): moeder, ma, mama
• (queen bee): bijenkoningin
• (female hare): moershaas
• (female rabbit): moerkonijn

• → Papiamentu: moer (dated)

A shortening of moerschroef, from moer (“mother”) +‎ schroef (“bolt”).

moer f (plural moeren, diminutive moertje n)

1. a type of fastener with a threaded hole; a nut
2. (informal) something small and insignificant (in the phrase geen moer)

   Het kan me geen moer schelen.

   I do not care at all.

• → Caribbean Javanese: mur
• → Indonesian: mur
• → Papiamentu: mur, moer

From Middle Dutch moer (“morass”), from Old Dutch *mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz. Related to meer (“lake”). Cognate with English moor, Old English mōr (“moor, marsh”).

moer n (plural moeren, diminutive moertje n)

2. morass, marsh, peat

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

moer ?

1. alternative form of muur (“chickweed”)

• van Veen, P.A.F.; van der Sijs, Nicoline (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden (in Dutch), Utrecht; Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie, →ISBN

• more, roem, Rome

moer f (plural moers)

1. morass

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese moer, from Latin molere (“to mill”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”). Compare Portuguese moer.

• IPA^(key): /moˈeɾ/

moer (first-person singular present moio, first-person singular preterite moín, past participle moído, short past participle mudo)
moer (first-person singular present moo, first-person singular preterite moim or moí, past participle moído, short past participle mudo, reintegrationist norm)

1. (transitive) to mill
2. (transitive) to grind, to crush

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “moer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “moer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “moer”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “moer”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “moer”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From Middle High German mager, from Old High German magar, from Proto-West Germanic *magr. Cognate with German mager, Dutch mager, Icelandic magur; also related to English meagre.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoːer/, [ˈmoː.ɐ]

moer (masculine moren or moeren, neuter moert, comparative méi moer, superlative am moersten)

1. lean
2. skinny, meagre

moer

1. indefinite plural of mo m
2. indefinite plural of moe m

moer f

1. obsolete spelling of mor
   • 1669, “Højr nu kiær SIRI mi”, in Den fyrste morgonblånen, Oslo: Novus, published 1990, page 48:

     højr Moer æg nu mæ dæg til Kioppinhaffn vil fara

     listen, Mother: Now I want to go to Copenhagen with you

Inherited from Latin molere.

• Rhymes: -eɾ

moer

1. to mill
2. to grind, crush

• Galician: moer
• Portuguese: moer

• Universo Cantigas - "moer"

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese moer, from Latin molere. Compare Galician moer.

• Hyphenation: mo‧er

moer (first-person singular present moo, first-person singular preterite moí, past participle moído)

1. (transitive) to mill
2. (transitive) to grind, crush

   Synonym: esmagar

3. (figuratively, colloquial, pronominal, intransitive) to tire, exhaust

   Synonyms: cansar, fatigar

4. (figuratively, colloquial, transitive) to nag, to annoy

   Synonyms: azucrinar, atazanar, chatear

• moagem
• moedor
• moer o juízo

• moenda
• mó
• moinho
• moleiro

• “moer”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “moer”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026