err
/ɜː/US/ɛɚ/
err verb: to make a mistake.
Verb
err (third-person singular simple present errs, present participle erring, simple past and past participle erred)
- To make a mistake.
- He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.
- Artificial tests, then, can hardly err on the side of supplying too many opportunities for one bird to see another perform the act which is the model.1910, James P. Porter, chapter 2, in Intelligence and Imitation in Birds; A Criterion of Imitation, page 7
- To sin.
- To err is human, to forgive, divine.
- to stray.
Interjection
- Elongated form of er (“sound of hesitation”).
- Err... what did you just say?
err meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
err in Hindi
- make a mistake
- ग़लती करना ġaltī karnā
err in Tamil
- தவறு செய், பிழைபடு, வழுவு
err in Marathi
- to err, make a mistake or blunder
- चुकणे ċukṇe
err in Urdu
- make a mistake
- غلطی کرنا ġaltī karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- err in Telugu
- తప్పు tappu, భ్రమపడు bhramapaḍu, వక్రించు vakriñcu
- err in Malayalam
- പാളിപ്പോവുക, വഴിപിഴയ്ക്കുക, നീതി തെറ്റുക
- err in Kannada
- ತಪ್ಪುಮಾಡು, ತಪ್ಪಿಹೋಗು, ತಪ್ಪು, ಪಾಪಮಾಡು
- err in Punjabi
- کھنجھنا khuñjhṇā
- err in Sanskrit
- स्रेधति sredhati
- err in Pashto
- تېروتل terwatə́l
- err in Arabic
- غَلِطَ ḡaliṭa, أَخْطَأَ ʔaḵṭaʔa
- err in Persian
- اشتباه کردن eštebâh kardan, خطا کردن xatâ kardan
- err in Thai
- ทำผิด tam-pìt
- err in Vietnamese
- phạm lỗi
- err in Myanmar
- မှား hma:, ချော်ချွတ် hkyauhkywat
Examples of err in a sentence
- To err is human; to forgive, divine.
- It is better to overdocument than not; thus, always err on the side of caution and overdocument.
- When making a trade, err on the side of overchecking the contract details.
Forms of err
| third-person singular present | errs |
|---|---|
| present participle | erring |
| past participle | erred |
| past | erred |
Origin of err
From Middle English erren, from Old French errer (“to wander, err, mistake”), from Latin errō (“wander, stray, err, mistake”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to be angry, lose one's temper”). Cognate with Old English eorre, ierre (“anger, wrath, ire”), Old English iersian (“to be angry with, rage, irritate, provoke”), Old English ierre (“wandering, gone astray, confused”).
Words formed from err
Phrases with err
Words that rhyme with err
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- per
- purr
- birr
- bur
- cellular
- concur
- defer
- entrepreneur
- incur
- infer
- occur
- prefer
- were
- whirr
- aver
- brr
- cur
- deter
- diaperfur
- fir
- myrrh
- aberr
- astir
- bestir
- chauffeur
- chur
- churr
- curmur
- deburr
- farceur
- flurr
- force majeure
- froideur
- grr
- her
- hurr
- inter
- knur
- masseur
- profer
- shirr
- voyeur
- xir
- agripreneur
- artpreneur
- auteur
- Big Sur
- bras d'honneur
Questions about err
- What does err mean?
- Err means to make a mistake.
- What is err in Hindi?
- Err in Hindi is ग़लती करना (ġaltī karnā). See Err meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is err?
- Err can be a verb or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce err?
- Err is pronounced /ɜː/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of err?
- The past tense of err is erred.
Words near err in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: err (page history and authors); err (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); चुकणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); తప్పు (Telugu) (page history and authors); err (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); err (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); کھنجھنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); تېروتل (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-err.wav.
Cite this entry: “err.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/err. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.