nõder

From Proto-Finnic *nëtra. Cognates include Finnish nöyrä (“humble; flexible”), Livonian nõ’ddõrz (“weak, small”), Votic nõdrõ (“weak, frail; flexible; thin; humble”), Ingrian nodra (“flexible; weak”), Livvi n'eyry (“skilful”) and Karelian neyrä (“humble; bad, weak, poor; windy; skilful; smart”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɤd̥er/, [ˈnɤd̥er]
• Rhymes: -ɤder
• Hyphenation: nõ‧der

nõder (genitive nõdra, partitive nõtra, comparative nõdrem, superlative kõige nõdrem or nõdrim)

1. feeble, frail, weak, infirm
   • 1894, Andres Rennit, Nurmelt ja niidult (poetry), →ISBN, Mu pääle ära kaeba:

     Küll tean, küll mõistan, palju oleks / Sul pärida ſu poja käeſt, / Küll tunnen, mis mul teha tuleks, / Kuid käevars on nõder wäeſt.

     I know, I understand, how much / thou oughtest to ask thy son, / I know what I ought to do, / yet the arm is weak.

   • 1954 April 8, Jakob Tamm, 0:00:19 from the start, in Punik‎^[1], spoken by Leo Martin, Eesti Rahvusringhääling:

     Ja kus näib teine nõdrem ees, / seal iga kergatski on mees!

     And where someone else seems before you seems to be more feeble, there even every coxcomb is a man!

     Recording of Jakob Tamm's fable

2. sickly, valetudinarian
3. senile, decrepit

• nõder in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “nõder”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009