Wiktionary

tyro

See also: Tyro

English

WOTD – 18 May 2026
 
A c. 1914 painting by Louis Émile Adan of a young male apprentice receiving instruction from a shoemaker.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin tyro, and from its etymon Latin tīrō (“beginner, novice; young apprentice; (Roman military) recruit”);[1] further etymology unknown, possibly from an unattested Etruscan word.

Pronunciation

Noun

tyro (plural tyros or tyroes)

  1. A beginner; a novice. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: (obsolete) tyrone; see also Thesaurus:beginner
    • 1697, J[ohn] Evelyn, “Of Mints, and of the Most Skilful Artists, Authors, Collectors and Collections: How to Methodize and Dispose of Medals for the Cabinet and Library, with Some Reflections on the Modern Clipping and Diminution of Coin”, in Numismata. A Discourse of Medals, Antient and Modern. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke […], →OCLC, page 252:
      I had propos'd to conclude this Inſtitution vvith a Catalogue (by vvay of Specimen) of both Antient Greek and Roman Medals, for the Eaſe and Benefit of Tyros, and ſuch as are not yet accuſtomed, and ſo ready to Decipher their Inſcriptions after the Method of Monſieur Baudelot [Charles César Baudelot de Dairval], […]
    • 1699, [Samuel Garth], “Canto III”, in The Dispensary; a Poem, London: […] John Nutt […], →OCLC, page 31:
      There ſtands a Structure on a riſing Hill, / VVhere Tyro's take their Freedom out to kill.
    • 1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC, page 305:
      Schools, unleſs diſcipline vvhere doubly ſtrong, / Detain their adoleſcent charge too long. / The management of Tiro's of eighteen / Is difficult, their puniſhment obſcene.
    • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 68:
      I ask if in the calm of their measured reveries, if in the deep meditations which fill their hours, they fill the ecstasy of a youthful tyro in the school of pleasure.
    • 1843, [John Ruskin], “Of the Inferior Mountains”, in Modern Painters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part II (Of Truth), section IV (Of Truth of Earth), § 22, page 299:
      Now there is no doubt nor capability of dispute about such painting as this; it is the work of a mere tyro, and a weak and childish tyro ignorant of the common laws of light and shadow; it is what beginners always do, and always have done, but what, if they have either sense or feeling, they soon cease to do.
    • 1857 April 1, Herman Melville, “Some Account of a Man of Questionable Morality, but Who, Nevertheless, Would Seem Entitled to the Esteem of that Eminent English Moralist who Said He Liked a Good Hater”, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, New York, N.Y.: Dix, Edwards & Co., […], →OCLC, page 240:
      Master of that woodland-cunning enabling the adept to subsist where the tyro would perish, and expert in all those arts by which an enemy is pursued for weeks, perhaps months, without once suspecting it, he kept to the forest.
    • 1880, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “First Period: Lyric and Fantastic”, in A Study of Shakespeare, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 14:
      [T]he three chief periods or stages are so unmistakably indicated by the mere text itself, and so easily recognisable by the veriest tiro in the school of Shakespeare, […]
    • 1931 August, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness. [Chapter] 5.”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XVIII, number 1, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 50, column 2:
      The text [of the letter], though, was marvelously accurate for a tyro’s work; and I concluded that Akeley must have used a machine at some previous period—perhaps in college.
    • 1959 May, “New Reading on Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 271:
      Switzerland for Railfans, by B. J. Prigmore and W. J. Wyse (1s.) is a stencilled pamphlet produced by the Electric Railway Society with a number of useful tips for the tyro planning his first visit.
    • 2002, Colin Jones, “An Enlightening Age”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 171:
      Alliance with the equally youthful Jean-le-Rond d'Alembert, tyro mathematician of genius and darling of the Parisian salons, led to the two men commissioning articles for the new venture straight away, and scheduling the launch of the first two volumes for 1731.
    • 2016, Chilton Williamson, “The Revolutionary Aftermath”, in Peter Galderisi, editor, American Political Development, 2nd edition, [United States]: University Readers, →ISBN, part II (Institutional Change and Changes in the Hearts and Minds of the New American Public), page 78, column 1:
      No tyroes in either political theory or practical politics, the [founding] fathers had the good sense, even on second thought, not to tamper with the existing suffrage regulations of the states.

Alternative forms

Derived terms

  • tyrology (“basic or rudimentary knowledge”) (obsolete, rare)

Translations

References

  1. ^ “tiro | tyro, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “tyro, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

Baltic Romani

Pronoun

tyro

  1. (Litovska) masculine genitive of tu

Declension

Litovska/Lithuanian Romani personal pronouns
singular plural reflexive
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
m f
Nominative mē tu jou joj amē tumē jonē -
Accusative/
Independent Oblique 		man tut lēs la amēn tumēn lēn pes
Dative mange tuke lēske lake amēnge tumēnge lēnge pēske
Ablative1 mandyr tutyr lēstyr latyr amēndyr tumēndyr lēndyr pēstyr
Genitive m miro tyro lēskiro lakiro amaro tumaro lēngiro pēskiro
f miri tyri lēskiri lakiri amari tumari lēngiri pēskiri
pl mirē tyrē lēskirē lakirē amarē tumarē lēngirē pēskirē
Locative mandē tutē lēstē latē amēndē tumēndē lēndē pēstē
Instrumental mansa tusa lēsa lasa amēnca tumēnca lēnsa pēsa
Enclitic Reflexive man pe amēn pe -

1 The ablative is in decline in Lithuanian Romani.

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