Pair

How to spell pair

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce pair

What does pair mean?

1. nounTwo matching or associated things considered together as a set.
2. verbTo join or match two things or people together.

Pair in a sentence

• noun

  She bought a new pair of running shoes for the marathon.

• verb

  The app can pair your phone with the wireless speaker.

• noun

  A pair of scissors went missing from the office drawer.

• verb

  The teacher will pair each new student with a mentor.

Where does pair come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin par, meaning 'equal' or 'a match', the same root that gives us 'parity' and 'compare'. From the plural form paria, meaning 'equal things', it passed into Old French as paire, describing two matching items considered together. English adopted it in the 1200s, first for two like objects treated as a single set, and later for two people linked together. The original sense of equality is still visible in modern uses, since a true pair is meant to balance or match. Its sound twins 'pear' (the fruit) and 'pare' (to trim) come from completely different roots, which is exactly why the spelling 'pair', tied to par and parity, is the one worth fixing in memory.

How the word is built

• pair (from Latin par: equal), borrowed as a single unit; no separable affixes

Words that sound like pair

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• pear: A sweet, juicy fruit that is narrow at the stem and rounded at the base, grown on a tree.