A Muslim ruler, commander, or nobleman; also spelled emir or amir.
From Arabic emir/أمير, meaning 'commander' or 'chief,' derived from the root meaning 'to command.' English borrowed this word through contact with Islamic peoples and Ottoman rulers from the 16th century onward.
The spelling 'emeer' shows how English writers in the 1800s were trying to represent the Arabic /eː/ sound phonetically, but eventually standardized it to 'emir,' showing how borrowed words get gradually anglicized in spelling.
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