chair.
An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.
Meaning & usage
An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.
All I need to weather a snowstorm is hot coffee, a warm fire, a good book and a comfortable chair.
I sat on my chair to have dinner.
Clipping of chairperson.
Under the rules of order adopted by the board, the chair may neither make nor second motions.
She will be the first lady to serve as chair of the committee.
The post or position of chairperson.
The meeting began, with Mr Roberts in the chair.
The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra.
My violin teacher used to play first chair with the Boston Pops.
A cast-iron component used on railways to support bullhead rails and secure them to the sleepers.
One of two possible conformers of cyclohexane rings (the other being boat), shaped roughly like a chair.
Ellipsis of electric chair (“device used for performing execution”).
The court will show no mercy; if he gets convicted, it's the chair for him.
A distinguished professorship at a university.
A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or a two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse; a gig.
The seat or office of a person in authority, such as a judge or bishop.
An assigned position in a beauty salon or barbershop.
Melinda has the best chair in the salon.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair From Middle English chayere, chayer, chayre, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Partially displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. Doublet of cathedra and chaise.
To act as chairperson at; to preside over.
Bob will chair tomorrow's meeting.
To carry in a seated position upon one's shoulders, especially in celebration or victory.
To award a chair to (a winning poet) at a Welsh eisteddfod.
The poet was chaired at the national Eisteddfod.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair From Middle English chayere, chayer, chayre, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Partially displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. Doublet of cathedra and chaise.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.