tern

See also: Tern

English

WOTD – 8 May 2021

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

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

tern (plural terns)

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

Etymology 2

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

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

Adjective

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

References

  1. ^ “tern, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, 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 Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2019; “tern2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin ternus.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    tern m (plural terns)

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

    Further reading

    Middle English

    Verb

    tern

    1. alternative form of teren

    Romanian

    Etymology

      Borrowed from French terne.

      Adjective

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

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

      Declension

      Declension of tern
      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
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