Tire - tyre

Tire, tyre and the less common tier form one of the sets of homophones listed by the then Poet Laureate Robert Bridges.
(For more, see Bridges homophones). AWE has a category listing our articles on each of these. Both tire and tyre are pronounced to rhyme with 'fire': IPA: /ˈtaɪ^r/, or in more marked RP ˈtaɪ ə^r - sometimes even /tɑː/. Confusion can arise.

• The common noun 'a tyre' or tire, meaning 'a rim round the circumference of a wheel' (originally of iron to protect the wooden rim, now usually a tube of rubber filled with air) is spelled with '-y-' representing the vowel sound) in Britain, especially when denoting the pneumatic tyres now universal in modern vehicles. In American English, it is usually spelled tire, with '-i-' representing the same vowel sound.
• OED lists six other nouns written tire, of which most are obsolete: 'a volley or broadside (of co-ordinated gunfire)'; "[a] tough morsel given to a hawk"; a colloquial term for 'fatigue' (usually in the plural, 'the tires'; a cord in weaving ribbons; and "the finest fibre of flax or hemp".
  • One meaning that may be more helpful to users of AWE is '[an item of] clothing'. It is an aphetic derivative of attire, the dress, costume, apparel or 'get-up'. See the related verb (the second) below.
• The verb 'to tire'
  • 'to fatigue'
  • 'to dress'

tiring house

• The proper noun Tyre

- tire (fatigue, attire) - tier (one who ties)