eisern

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German īseren, īserīn, from Old High German īsarnīn. Equivalent to Eiser (iron), older variant of Eisen +‎ -en. Now reanalysable as Eisen (iron) +‎ -ern, but historically eisern is itself one of the words that contributed to the development of this extended suffix -ern (see there).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈaɪ̯zɐn/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ei‧sern

Adjective

eisern (strong nominative masculine singular eiserner, comparative (rare) eiserner, superlative am eisernsten)

  1. iron, ironclad, made of iron
  2. (figurative) staunch, unyielding

Usage notes

  • As usual, Modern German prefers compound nouns to the adjective construction, e.g. rather Eisenstange than eiserne Stange (iron rod). Therefore the figurative use is now predominant.

Declension

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

  • eisern” in Duden online
  • eisern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache