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Wiktionary

tern

See also: Tern

English

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WOTD – 8 May 2021

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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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

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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
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  • terne (obsolete, 17th c.)
Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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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

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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
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Adjective

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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
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References

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  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

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin ternus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tern m (plural terns)

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

Further reading

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Middle English

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Verb

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tern

  1. Alternative form of teren

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French terne.

Adjective

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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

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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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