asper
UK /ˈæspə/ · US /ˈæspəɹ/ adjective, noun, proper noun
Forms aspers aspre aspron
- adjective (obsolete) Rough or harsh; severe, stern, serious.
- noun (phonetics, obsolete) Rough breathing; a mark (#) indicating that part of a word is aspirated, or pronounced with h before it.
- noun (historical) Any one of several small coins, circulated around the eastern Mediterranean area from the 12th to 17th centuries.
- proper noun A surname.
Etymology
From Middle English aspre, from Old French aspre (modern French âpre), from Latin asper (“rough”).
From Middle English asper, from Middle French aspre or Italian aspro, both from Ancient Greek ἄσπρον (áspron), from neuter of ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”), from Latin asper (“rough, newly minted”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Rough; rugged; harsh; bitter; stern; fierce. [Archaic] "An asper sound." Bacon.
- noun The rough breathing; a mark placed over an initial vowel sound or over h before it; thus hws, pronounced h, hrj'twr, pronounced hra\'b6t.
- noun A Turkish money of account (formerly a coin), of little value; the 120th part of a piaster.
Etymology [OE. aspre, OF. aspre, F. âpre, fr. L. asper rough.]
Etymology [L. spiritus asper rough breathing.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “asper”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details