Word.ws English Dictionary

miserere

/mɪzəˈɹɛəɹi/

miserere is the alternative letter-case form of Miserere.

Noun

miserere (plural misereres)

  1. An expression of lamentation or complaint.
  2. A medieval dagger, used for the mercy stroke to a wounded foe; misericord.
  3. A small projecting boss or bracket on the underside of the hinged seat of a church stall, intended to give some support to a standing worshipper when the seat is turned up; a misericord.
  4. Ileus.

Proper noun capitalized: Miserere

the Miserere

  1. The 51st Psalm (50th in the older Greek and Latin numbering), beginning “Have mercy upon me, O God …” in the King James Version; sometimes set to music.
    • One of the most impressive ceremonies of Holy Week is the chanting of the Miserere.1845, J. T. Headley, Letters from Italy, page 130
    • When someone did want to designate a short interval, the usual phrasing drew on religious vocabulary, calling up the duration of common prayers: the Paternoster, the Ave Maria, and the Miserere.2004, Joyce E. Salisbury, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life: 15th and 16th Centuries, →ISBN, page 132

Forms of miserere

pluralmisereres

Origin of miserere

From Middle English miserere, a borrowing from Latin miserēre (“have pity”), first word of the 51st Psalm (50th in the older Greek and Latin numbering), translating Ancient Greek ἐλέησον (eléēson) and Biblical Hebrew חָנֵּנִי (ḥānnēnî), inflected form of חָנַן (ḥānan, “have mercy”).

Borrowed from Latin miserēre (“have pity”), the first word of the psalm in that language.

Questions about miserere

What does miserere mean?
Miserere means an expression of lamentation or complaint.
What is miserere the alternative letter-case form of?
Miserere is the alternative letter-case form of Miserere.
What part of speech is miserere?
Miserere can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce miserere?
Miserere is pronounced /mɪzəˈɹɛəɹi/.
What is the plural of miserere?
The plural of miserere is misereres.

Words near miserere in the dictionary

  1. Miserden
  2. miserdom
  3. misereatur
  4. miserection
  5. miserections
  6. miserere
  7. misereres
  8. miserhood
  9. misericord
  10. misericorde
  11. misericordes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: miserere (page history and authors); Miserere (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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Cite this entry: “miserere.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/miserere. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.