English Explanatory Dictionary

tern

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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.
noun
  1. A thing with three components; a set of three things.
  2. A lottery prize resulting from the favourable combination of three numbers in the draw.
adj
  1. Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.
name
  1. A river in Shropshire, England, which joins the Severn at Atcham; in full, the River Tern.

Pronunciation

tûrn /tɜːn/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-terne.wav /tɝn/ En-us-turn.ogg

Word forms

tern terns terne

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

ternary treble trine tern threefold triadic trinary triple

Related words

sea swallow

Derived words

ternery Stoke on Tern Stoke upon Tern
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