sour.
Tasting of acidity.
Meaning & usage
Tasting of acidity.
Lemons have a sour taste.
Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour.
Tasting or smelling rancid.
His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.
Hostile or unfriendly.
He gave me a sour look.
Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)
sour land
a sour marsh
Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)
sour gas smells like rotten eggs
Unfortunate or unfavorable.
Off-pitch, out of tune.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *súHros Proto-Germanic *sūraz Proto-West Germanic *sūr Old English sūr Middle English sour English sour From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sur (“sour”), French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).
The sensation of a sour taste.
A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
A sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
The acidic solution used in souring fabric.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *súHros Proto-Germanic *sūraz Proto-West Germanic *sūr Old English sūr Middle English sour English sour From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sur (“sour”), French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).
To make sour.
Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.
To become sour.
To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.
To become disenchanted.
We broke up after our relationship soured.
To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *súHros Proto-Germanic *sūraz Proto-West Germanic *sūr Old English sūr Middle English sour English sour From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sur (“sour”), French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).
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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.