First

See also: first

English

Etymology

• As a German surname, variant of Fürst, Furst.
• As a Jewish surname, from Yiddish פֿירשט (firsht, “prince”), a rendition of the above.
• As a Serbo-Croatian and Slovene, from the noun firšt (“prince”), a loanword from German and thus related to the above.

Proper noun

First

1. A surname.

Anagrams

• FTIRs, SIRTF, frist, frits, rifts

German

Etymology

From Middle High German virst, from Old High German first, perhaps ultimately from a combination of Proto-Indo-European *per- + *steh₂-, similar to Proto-Indo-Iranian *pr̥štʰás (“ridge, back”), Latin postis (“doorpost”), Ancient Greek παστάς (pastás, “porch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪʁst/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

First m (strong, genitive Firstes or Firsts, plural Firste)

1. ridge (of a roof)

   Synonym: Dachfirst

Declension

Declension of First [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	First	die	Firste
genitive	eines	des	Firstes, Firsts	der	Firste
dative	einem	dem	First, Firste1	den	Firsten
accusative	einen	den	First	die	Firste

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• Firstbalken
• Firstständer
• Firstpfette
• Firstziegel

Further reading

• “First”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “First” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “First” in Duden online