Tear

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /tɛə/

Definitions

1. A drop of salty liquid that forms in the eye, often due to emotion, irritation, or physical response
2. A salty fluid secreted by the eye to clean and protect it ; to pull something apart forcibly or make a hole by separating its parts
3. A liquid produced in the eyes during emotions or irritation ; to cause damage by ripping or splitting materials

Etymology: The verb and the noun "tear" (the drop of liquid from the eye) are not related by origin at all. The verb comes from Old English "teran", meaning to rip or lacerate, and it belongs to a family of Germanic words for pulling apart and wearing down. German "zerren" (to tug or rip) and Swedish "tära" (to fret or consume) are its relatives, and the Greek "dérō", meaning to skin, is a distant cousin. The eye-liquid noun descends from Old English "teagor", which goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root "*dáḱru-", and that same root gave Latin "lacrima" and Greek "dákry". The two words only became identical in spelling and sound by accident of later development. The noun's line of descent shows up in its relatives across Europe: German "Zähre", Icelandic "tár", Welsh "deigryn", and Irish "deoir" all mean the same thing, which is a sign of how old the root is. Gothic also had a version, "tagr", meaning teardrop.

Synonyms: rip, lacerate, split, shred, rend

Antonyms: join, repair, mend