Err

How to spell err

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce err

What does err mean?

1. verbTo make a mistake or be wrong.

Err in a sentence

• Even careful accountants sometimes err when entering long columns of figures.

• Cautious managers prefer to err on the side of safety rather than risk an accident.

Where does err come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This short verb comes from the Latin errare, which literally meant 'to wander' or 'to stray', as a traveller might lose the path. From that physical idea of straying came the figurative sense of straying from what is true or correct, that is, making a mistake. English took the word through Old French errer in the 1300s, keeping both the literal wandering and the moral 'going wrong' senses. The same Latin root sits openly inside several familiar relatives, including 'error', 'erratic', 'errant', and 'aberration', and noticing that family is the easiest way to remember the double r in err. The wandering knight of medieval romance was called a knight 'errant' for exactly this reason: he roamed without a fixed course.

How the word is built

• err (from Latin errare: to wander, to stray, hence to go wrong)