Wiktionary

tern

See also: Tern

English

edit
WOTD – 8 May 2021

Pronunciation

edit
 
An arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea; etymology 1) photographed on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, England, U.K.

Etymology 1

edit

Via an East Anglian dialect, from some Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, related to Danish terne, Norwegian terne, and Swedish tärna, all from Old Norse þerna (“tern; maidservant”),[1] ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.

Noun

edit

tern (plural terns)

  1. Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sternidae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
Alternative forms
edit
  • terne (obsolete, 17th c.)
Hyponyms
edit
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit
See also
edit

Etymology 2

edit
PIE word
*tréyes

The noun is derived from Late Middle English terne (“throw of a die or dice showing the number three”),[2] from Old French terne (“gathering of three people; trinity”) (modern French terne), from Latin ternās,[3] the accusative feminine plural of ternī (“three each; three at a time”), from ter (“thrice”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + -ī (from -us (suffix forming adjectives)).

The adjective is either derived from the noun, or directly from Latin ternī (“three each; three at a time”);[3] see above.

Noun

edit

tern (plural terns)

  1. (dated or obsolete) A thing with three components; a set of three things.
    1. (gambling, dated) A lottery prize resulting from the favourable combination of three numbers in the draw.
Translations
edit

Adjective

edit

tern (not comparable)

  1. (chiefly botany, rare) Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.
    Synonyms: ternary, treble, trine; see also Thesaurus:triple
    Coordinate terms: quatern, (obsolete, rare) quine
    tern flowers    tern leaves
    a tern schooner, one with three masts
Translations
edit

References

edit
  1. ^ “tern, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “tern1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “terne, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Compare “tern, adj. and n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2019; “tern2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

edit

Anagrams

edit

Catalan

edit

Etymology

edit

Learned borrowing from Latin ternus.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

tern m (plural terns)

  1. set of three, trio
  2. matching three-piece suit

Further reading

edit

Middle English

edit

Verb

edit

tern

  1. Alternative form of teren

Romanian

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from French terne.

Adjective

edit

tern m or n (feminine singular ternă, masculine plural terni, feminine and neuter plural terne)

  1. (literary) matte, lackluster, dull (lacking gloss)
  2. (figurative) colorless, pale (lacking color or contrast)
    Synonyms: monoton, mohorât

Declension

edit
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite tern ternă terni terne
definite ternul terna ternii ternele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite tern terne terni terne
definite ternului ternei ternilor ternelor
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=tern&oldid=82007510"
  NODES
Note 1