Peter

See also: peter, Péter, and péter

English

Etymology

From Middle English Peter, from Old English Petrus, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”). Doublet of Pedro, Piers, and Boutros.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpitɚ/, [ˈpʰitɚ], [ˈpʰiɾɚ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)
• Homophones: PETA, pita (Received Pronunciation), peter

Noun

Peter

1. (World War II era, joint US/RAF) radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter P.

   Synonym: Papa

Proper noun

Peter (countable and uncountable, plural Peters)

Epistle of Peter on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Peter on Wikisource.Wikisource Wiktionary has an Appendix listing books of the Bible

1. A male given name from Ancient Greek.
   • 1911, J. M. Barrie, chapter I, in Peter Pan, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, published 1993:

     She knew of no Peter, and yet he was here and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over with him. The name stood out in bolder letters than any of the other words, and as Mrs Darling gazed she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance.

   • 1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Boys' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 90:

     What splendid names for boys there are! / There's Carol like a rolling car, / And Martin like a flying bird, / And Adam like the Lord's First Word, / And Raymond like the Harvest Moon, / And Peter like a piper's tune,

2. The leading Apostle in the New Testament.
3. (biblical) The epistles of Peter in the New Testament of the Bible, 1 Peter and 2 Peter attributed to St. Peter.

   Synonym: (abbreviation) Pet.

4. A surname originating as a patronymic.
5. A census-designated place in Cache County, Utah, United States, named after Peter Maughan.

   Synonym: Petersboro

Derived terms

• Ayot St Peter
• blue peter
• Chalfont St Peter
• Charlton St Peter
• Peter boat
• Peterborough
• Peterchurch
• Peter Funk
• Peter Island
• Peter Pan
• Peter Parker principle
• Peter pence, Peter's pence
• Peter principle
• Petersburg
• Peter's fish
• Peters Marland
• Peter's penny
• Peter the Great
• rob Peter to pay Paul
• Saint Peter
• St. Peter
• St Peters
• St Peter's
• Thorpe St Peter

 

Related terms

• given name variants: Peers, Percy, Pete, Petey, Pierce, Piers
• feminine forms: Peta, Petra

• McFedries
• McFetridge
• Parkerson
• Parkin
• Parkins
• Parkinson
• Parkyn
• Parratt
• Parrell
• Parren
• Parrett
• Parritt
• Parrot
• Parrott
• Pearce
• Pears
• Pearse
• Pearson
• Peat
• Peate
• Peattie
• Peaty
• Peddie
• Peers
• Peet
• Peirce
• Peirse
• Pell
• Pells
• Pelly
• Perce
• Perkin
• Perkins
• Perot
• Perowne
• Perratt
• Perret
• Perrett
• Perrin
• Perring
• Perrins
• Perris
• Perriss
• Perron
• Perrott
• Perse
• Persse
• Peterkin
• Peters
• Peterson
• Pether
• Pethers
• Petre
• Petrie
• Pierce
• Piers
• Pierse
• Pierson
• Pither
• Pithers
• Porrett
• Porritt
• Purkins
• surnames

 

Translations

male given name

Afrikaans: Pieter (af) Albanian: Pjétër, Pjétro, Pétër, Pétro Amharic: ጴጥሮስ (p̣eṭros) Arabic: بُطْرُس m (buṭrus) (cognate), بِيتَر m (bītar) (transliteration) Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܦܛܪܘܣ (Peṭrus) Armenian: Պետրոս (hy) (Petros) Asturian: Pedru (ast) m Basque: Peio (eu), Peru (eu), Petri Bavarian: Bäda, Beda Belarusian: Пётр m (Pjotr), Пятро́ m (Pjatró) Breton: Pêr (br) m Bulgarian: Пѐтър (bg) m (Pètǎr) Catalan: Pere (ca) Cebuano: Pedro Chinese: Eastern Min: 彼得 (Bī-dáik) Mandarin: 彼得 (zh) (Bǐdé) (transliteration) Chuvash: Петӗр (Pet̬ĕr) Cornish: Peder Corsican: Petru (co) Czech: Petr (cs) m Danish: Peter (da), Peder, Per Dutch: Pieter (nl) Emilian: Pîr Esperanto: Petro (eo) Estonian: Peeter Faroese: Petur (fo), Pætur m, Per m Finnish: Pietari (fi), Petteri (fi), Petri (fi) Franco-Provençal: Pierro French: Pierre (fr) m Friulian: Pieri m Galician: Pedro (gl) m Georgian: პეტრე (ṗeṭre) German: Peter (de) m, Per (de) m Alemannic German: Peder Greek: Πέτρος (el) m (Pétros), Παναγιώτης (el) (Panagiótis), Πήτερ (el) (Píter) (transliteration from English), Πίτερ (el) (Píter) (transliteration from English) Ancient Greek: Πέτρος m (Pétros) Greenlandic: Piita (kl), Piitaq Hawaiian: Pekelo Hebrew: פֶּטֶר (he) (Péter) Hindi: पीटर (pīṭar) Hungarian: Péter (hu) Icelandic: Pétur (is) m Ido: Petrus m Indonesian: Petrus Irish: Peadar (ga) Italian: Pietro (it) m, Piero (it) Japanese: ピーター (Pītā) (transliteration) Konkani: पेद्रु (pedru) Korean: 피터 (piteo) Latin: Petrus (la) Latvian: Pēteris (lv) Limburgish: Petrus Lithuanian: Pẽtras Low German: German Low German: Päiter m Luxembourgish: Péiter Macedonian: Петар (mk) m (Petar), Петре (mk) m (Petre) Maltese: Pietru (mt) Manx: Peddyr (gv) m Maori: Pita (mi) Marathi: पीटर m (pīṭar) Mongolian: Петр m (Petr) Norman: Pièrre m, Piteur m Northern Sami: Piera Norwegian: Peder (no), Peter (no), Petter (no) Occitan: Pèire (oc) m, Pèr m, Pèir (oc) m Old Church Slavonic: Петръ (Petrŭ) Old Norse: Pétr m Persian: پیتر (piter) Polish: Piotr (pl) m Portuguese: Pedro (pt) Romanian: Petru (ro), Petre (ro) Cyrillic: Петру m (Petru), Петре m (Petre) Romansch: Peider m Russian: Пётр (ru) m (Pjotr) (cognate), Пи́тер (ru) m (Píter) (transliteration) Sardinian: Pedru m, Perdu m, Predu m Scots: Peter Scottish Gaelic: Peadar (gd) m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Пѐтар m Roman: Pètar m Sicilian: Petru m Sinhalese: පේතෘස් m (pētr̥s) Slovak: Peter (sk) Slovene: Péter (sl) m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: Pětš m Upper Sorbian: Pětr (hsb) m Spanish: Pedro (es) Swahili: Petro (sw) class 5 Swedish: Per (sv), Peter (sv), Petter (sv) Tagalog: Pedro (tl) Tamil: பீட்டர் (pīṭṭar) Thai: ปีเตอร์ (th) (bpii-dtə̂ə) Tigrinya: ጴጥሮስ (p̣eṭros) Turkish: Petrus, Petros Ukrainian: Петро́ m (Petró) (cognate), Пі́тер m (Píter) (transliteration) Urdu: پطرس m (Piṭrus) Venetan: Piero m Vietnamese: Phêrô Walloon: Pire (wa) m Waray-Waray: Pedro Welsh: Pedr (cy) West Frisian: Piter Wolof: Piyeer Yakut: Бүөтүр (Büötür) Yiddish: פּעטרוס (petrus) Zealandic: Petrus

the Apostle

Afrikaans: Petrus (af) Aghwan: 𐕗𐔴𐕜𐕙𐕒𐕚 (ṗeṭros) Albanian: Pjétri, Pétro, Amharic: ጴጥሮስ (p̣eṭros) Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܦܛܪܘܣ (Peṭraus) Arabic: بُطْرُس (buṭrus) Armenian: Պետրոս (hy) (Petros) Basque: Peio (eu), Peru (eu), Petri Belarusian: Пётр m (Pjotr) Breton: Pêr (br) m Bulgarian: Пе́тър (bg) m (Pétǎr) Cebuano: Pedro Chinese: Cantonese: 彼得 (bei2 dak1), 伯多祿／伯多禄 (baak3 do1 luk6) (Catholic), 伯鐸／伯铎 (baak3 dok6) (Catholic), 裴特若 (pui4 dak6 joek6) (Orthodox) Eastern Min: 彼得 (Bī-dáik), 伯多祿／伯多禄 (Báe̤k-dŏ̤-lṳ̆k) (Catholic), 伯鐸／伯铎 (Báe̤k-dŏk) (Catholic) Hakka: 彼得 (Pí-tet) Hokkien: 彼得 (Pí-tek), 伯多祿／伯多禄 (Pek-to-lo̍k) (Catholic) Mandarin: 彼得 (zh) (Bǐdé), 伯多祿／伯多禄 (zh) (Bóduōlù) (Catholic), 伯鐸／伯铎 (Bóduó) (Catholic), 裴特若 (Péitèruò) (Orthodox) Corsican: Petru (co) Czech: Petr (cs) m Danish: Peter (da) Dutch: Petrus (nl) Emilian: Pîr Estonian: Peetrus Faroese: Pætur m Finnish: Pietari (fi) French: Pierre (fr) m Friulian: Pieri m Georgian: პეტრე (ṗeṭre) German: Petrus Greek: Πέτρος (el) m (Pétros) Ancient: Πέτρος m (Pétros) Greenlandic: Piita (kl), Piitaq Gujarati: પિતર m (pitar) Hawaiian: Petero Hebrew: פטרוס Hindi: पतरस m (patras) Hungarian: Péter (hu) Icelandic: Pétur (is) m Ido: Petrus m Indonesian: Petrus Irish: Peadar (ga) m Old Irish: Petur m Italian: Pietro (it) Japanese: (in Biblical contexts) ペトロ (Petoro), ペテロ (Petero), ペトロス (Petorosu) Kazakh: Петір (Petır) Konkani: पेद्रु (pedru) Korean: 베드로 (Bedeuro) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پێترۆس (pêtros), بوتڕوس (butrrus) Latin: Petrus (la) Latvian: Pēteris (lv) m Limburgish: Petrus Lithuanian: Pẽtras m Low German: German Low German: Päiter m Macedonian: Петар (mk) (Petar) Maltese: Pietru (mt) m Manx: Peddyr (gv) m Maore Comorian: Monye Maori: Pita (mi) Mongolian: Петр m (Petr), Хад m (Xad) (rare) Norman: Pièrre m Northern Sami: Biehtár Norwegian: Peter (no) Old Church Slavonic: Петръ m (Petrŭ) Old English: Petrus m Old Norse: Pétr m Persian: پطرس (fa) (petros) Polish: Piotr (pl) m Portuguese: Pedro (pt) m Romanian: Petru (ro) m Russian: Пётр (ru) (Pjotr) Scots: Peter Scottish Gaelic: Peadar (gd) m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Пѐтар m Roman: Pètar m Sicilian: Santu Petru Sindhi: پطرس Sinhalese: ශුද්ධවූ පේදුරු තුමා (śuddhawū pēduru tumā) Slovak: Peter (sk) m Slovene: Peter (sl) m Somali: Butros Spanish: Pedro (es) Swahili: Petro (sw) Swedish: Petrus (sv) Tagalog: Pedro (tl) Tamil: இராயப்பர் (ta) (irāyappar) Thai: เปโตร (bpee-dtroo) Tibetan: པེ་ཏྲོ (pe tro) Tigrinya: ጴጥሮስ (p̣eṭros) Ukrainian: Петро́ (Petró) Urdu: پطرس m Vietnamese: Phêrô (Roman Catholic), Phierơ (Protestant) Waray-Waray: Pedro Welsh: Pedr (cy) m West Frisian: Petrus Wolof: Piyeer Zealandic: Petrus

one of the epistles of Peter

Afrikaans: Petrus (af) Amharic: የጴጥሮስ መልእክት (yäp̣eṭros mälʾəkt) Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܦܛܪܘܣ (Peṭraus) Armenian: Պետրոս (hy) (Petros) Awadhi: पतरस (patras) Basque: Peio (eu), Peru (eu), Petri Bavarian: Beda Breton: Pêr (br) m Burmese: ရှင်ပေတရု​ဩဝါဒစာ​ပဌမစောင် (hrangpeta.ru.​au:wada.ca​pa.hta.ma.caung), ရှင်ပေတရု​ဩဝါဒစာ​ဒုတိယစောင် (hrangpeta.ru.​au:wada.ca​du.ti.ya.caung) Cebuano: Pedro Chinese: Cantonese: 彼得 (bei2 dak1) Eastern Min: 彼得 (Bī-dáik) Mandarin: 彼得 (zh) (Bǐdé) Corsican: Petru (co) Czech: Petrův (cs) m Danish: Petersbrev, Dutch: Peter (nl) m Estonian: (please verify) Peetruse, (please verify) Pt Faroese: Pætur Finnish: Pietarin kirje French: Pierre (fr) f, P (fr) f German: (please verify) (Der 1./2. Brief des) Petrus, (please verify) Petr (de), Peter (de) Greek: Πέτρος (el) m (Pétros) Ancient Greek: Πέτρος m (Pétros) Greenlandic: Piita (kl), Piitaq Hawaiian: Petero Hungarian: Péter (hu) Icelandic: Pétur (is) m Ido: Petrus m Indonesian: Petrus Irish: Peadar (ga) m Italian: Pietro (it) m Japanese: ペテロの手紙 (Petero no Tegami) Kazakh: Петірдің хаты (Petırdıñ xaty) Khmer: ពេត្រុស​ទី (peitruh-tii-) Konkani: पेद्रुचें पत्र (pedrucẽ patra) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پەترۆس (petros) Latin: Petrus (la) m Latvian: Pēteris (lv) m Limburgish: Petrus Lithuanian: Pẽtras m, Pẽtro laiškaĩ (lt) f pl Low German: German Low German: Päiter m Macedonian: Петрово n (Petrovo) Malayalam: പത്രൊസ് (patrosŭ) Maltese: Pietru (mt) m Manx: Peddyr (gv) Maori: Pita (mi) Mongolian: (please verify) Петр (Petr), (please verify) Пт (Pt) Norwegian: Peter (no), (please verify) Peters, Pet Odia: ପିତରଙ୍କ (pitaraṅka) Polish: List świętego Piotra Apostoła m; List św. Piotra m; List Piotra m; P (pl) Portuguese: Pedro (pt) m Punjabi: ਪਤਰਸ (patras) Romanian: Petru (ro) m Scots: Peter Scottish Gaelic: Peadar (gd) Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) Pt m Slovak: Petrov m Slovene: Peter (sl) m Somali: Butros Spanish: Pedro (es) m Swahili: Petro (sw) Swedish: Petrus (sv), Petrusbrevet, (please verify) Pet. Tagalog: Pedro (tl) Tamil: பேதுரு (ta) (pēturu) Thai: เปโตร Turkish: Petrus'un Uzbek: Butrus Vietnamese: Phêrô (Roman Catholic), Phierơ (Protestant) Waray-Waray: Pedro Welsh: Pedr (cy) m West Frisian: Piter Zealandic: Petrus

surname

Finnish: Pietarinen (fi), Pietarila (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Amharic: (please verify) ጴጥሮስ (p̣eṭros) Hindi: (please verify) पथ्रुस (pathrus)

See also

• Petrock
• Petronella

Anagrams

• Peret, Petre, Prete, peert, petre, repet.

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Peter, from Middle English Petre, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”), related to πέτρα (pétra).

Proper noun

Peter

1. a male given name from English [in turn from Ancient Greek]

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse Pétr, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”), related to πέτρα (pétra). Later reinforced by the German Peter.

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /ˈpeːˀtər/, [ˈpʰeːˀd̥ɐ]
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /petər/, [pʰed̥ɐ]

Proper noun

Peter

1. a male given name
2. Peter (biblical figure).

   Og jeg siger dig, at du er Peter, og på den klippe vil jeg bygge min kirke, --- Bibelen, Matthæus 16:18 (1992 transl.)

Related terms

• (variants) Peder, Per
• (feminine forms) Pernille, Petra, Petrea, Petrine
• (surnames) Pedersen, Petersen

References

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 150 294 males with the given name Peter have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with frequency peaks in the 19th century and in the 1960s. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch Peter, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “rock, stone”), as a name a loan translation of Aramaic כֵּיפָא (“stone, rock; Peter, Cephas”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeː.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Pe‧ter
• Rhymes: -eːtər

Proper noun

Peter m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Peter

Related terms

• Petrus
• Piet, Pieter

Anagrams

• repte

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”), related to πέτρα (pétra).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeːtɐ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Bavaria):

  (file)

Proper noun

Peter m (proper noun, strong, genitive Peters or Peter, plural Peters or Peter)

1. a male given name, feminine equivalent Petra

Related terms

• biblical form: Petrus

Proper noun

Peter m or f (proper noun, strong, genitive Peters, plural Peters or Peter)

1. A common surname.

Usage notes

• The unchanged plural is preferred in southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
• In northern and central Germany, both forms are common for the given name, but the surname usually takes -s in the plural.

Alternative forms

• Peters (in the singular)

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

Peter

Wikipedia ^it

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English Peter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi.ter/^[1]
• Rhymes: -iter

Proper noun

Peter m or f by sense

1. A male given name in English
2. (uncommon) A surname in English

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Peter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.ter/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛter
• Hyphenation: Pè‧ter

Proper noun

Peter m or f by sense

1. A male given name and surname in German

References

1. Peter in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• petir, Petir, petur, petre, peiter

Etymology

From Old English Petrus, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeːtər/

Proper noun

Peter (genitive Petres)

1. Peter
   • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎, folio 34, recto, lines 36-37; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:

     Stille þou be peter. Wel i þe icnowe. / þou wolt fur ſake me þrien . ar þe coc him crowe.

     "Quiet now, Peter. I know you well; / You'll forsake me three times when the cock crows."

Related terms

• Petres peny

Descendants

• English: Peter
• Scots: Peter
• Yola: Beedher, Peedher, Peether

References

• “Pẹ̄ter, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian

Etymology

From Old Norse Pétr, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”), related to πέτρα (pétra). Later reinforced by the German Peter.

Proper noun

Peter

1. a male given name
2. Peter (biblical figure)

   Og det sier jeg deg: Du er Peter; på denne klippe vil jeg bygge min kirke. Bibelen, Matteus 16:18 (1985 transl.)

Related terms

• (male given names) Peder, Peer, Per, Petter
• (feminine names) Pernille, Petra, Petrine
• (surnames) Pedersen, Petersen, Pettersen

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 4 327 males with the given name Peter (compared to 10 139 named Petter) living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 19th century. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English Peter, from Old English Petrus, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpitər/

Proper noun

Peter

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Peter

Derived terms

• (diminutive) Pate, Patie

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛtɛr/

Proper noun

Peter m pers (genitive singular Petra, nominative plural Petrovia, declension pattern of chlap)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Peter

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	Peter	Petrovia
genitive	Petra	Petrov
dative	Petrovi	Petrom
accusative	Petra	Petrov
locative	Petrovi	Petroch
instrumental	Petrom	Petrami

Declension of Peter

Further reading

• “Peter”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

Peter

Wikipedia ^sl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pèːtər/

Proper noun

Pẹ́tər m anim

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Peter

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine anim., hard o-stem
nominative	Péter
genitive	Pétra
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Péter
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Pétra
dative (dajȃlnik)	Pétru
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Pétra
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Pétru
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Pétrom

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse Pétr, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”), related to πέτρα (pétra). Later reinforced by the German Peter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /petər/ (without doubled "t")
• IPA^(key): /pɛtər/ (with doubled "t": Petter)

• Audio:

  (file)

Interjection

Peter

1. The letter "P" in the Swedish spelling alphabet

Proper noun

Peter c (genitive Peters)

1. a male given name

Related terms

variants:

• Peder
• Per
• Percy
• Petrus
• Pierre
• Pär

feminine forms:

• Pernilla
• Petra
• Petronella

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN:112 253 males with the given name Peter living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1960s. Accessed on May 19th, 2011.

Anagrams

• repet