sieve

Meaning

Noun

1. A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
2. A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
3. (obsolete) A kind of coarse basket.
4. (colloquial) A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.
5. (derogatory, slang) An intern who lets too many non-serious cases into the emergency room.
6. A collection of morphisms in a category whose codomain is a certain fixed object of that category, which collection is closed under precomposition by any morphism in the category.

Verb

1. To strain, sift or sort using a sieve.
2. To concede; let in

Synonyms

sift

strainer

screen

strain

filter

sifter

colander

riddle

winnow

mesh

bolter

pour

sort

filtrate

screen out

recap

run

run through

screener

basket

🧺

scrutinize

separate

shaker

sizing screen

vet

walk through

wash

🧽

pour off

sieve out

small gong

hairsieve

mesh screen

scrutinise

cribble

dredge

filter out

flow

go

go over

go through

grate

grating

gridiron

medium size

mop

percolate

rain

🌧️

Translations

tamis

Sieb

setaccio

sieben

7

tamiz

crible

colador

tamiser

colar

cribar

setacciare

peneira

zeef

passoire

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sive

Inherited from Old English: sife

In summary

From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (sev), се́ять (séjatʹ)).