tern

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See also: Tern

English

WOTD – 8 May 2021

Pronunciation

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

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”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.

Noun

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
  • 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”), from Old French terne (“gathering of three people; trinity”) (modern French terne), from Latin ternās, 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”); 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
    tern flowers; tern leaves
    a tern schooner, one with three masts
Coordinate terms
Translations
consisting of three components — see ternary

References

  1. ^ “tern, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: 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, Oxfordshire: 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 and 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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