stern

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See also: Stern and stern-

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English stern, sterne, sturne, from Old English styrne (stern, grave, strict, austere, hard, severe, cruel), from Proto-Germanic *sturnijaz (angry, astonished, shocked), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (rigid, stiff). Cognate with Scots stern (bold, courageous, fierce, resolute), Old High German stornēn (to be astonished), Dutch stuurs (glum, austere), Swedish stursk (insolent).

Adjective

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stern (comparative sterner, superlative sternest)

  1. Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
  2. Grim and forbidding in appearance.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

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Most likely from Old Norse stjórn (control, steering), related to stýra (to steer), from Proto-Germanic *stiurijaną, whence also English steer. Also possibly from Old Frisian stiarne (rudder), from the same Germanic root.

Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

stern (plural sterns)

Stern of the VOC ship 'Amsterdam' (replica)
  1. (nautical) The rear part or after end of a ship or vessel.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
  2. (figurative) The post of management or direction.
  3. The hinder part of anything.
  4. The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Verb

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stern (third-person singular simple present sterns, present participle sterning, simple past and past participle sterned)

  1. (obsolete, transitive, intransitive) To steer, to direct the course of (a ship).
  2. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To propel or move backward or stern-first in the water.

Etymology 3

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From a variant of tern.

Noun

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stern (plural sterns)

  1. A bird, the black tern.
Translations
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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Possibly cognate with Latin sturnus (starling).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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stern m (plural sterns or sternen, diminutive sterntje n)

  1. tern
    Synonym: zeezwaluw

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Middle English

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Noun

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stern

  1. Alternative form of sterne

Mòcheno

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Etymology

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From Middle High German stërne, stërre, stërn, from Old High German sterno, from Proto-Germanic *sternǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (star). Cognate with German Stern, English star.

Noun

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stern m

  1. star

References

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  • Anthony R. Rowley, Liacht as de sproch: Grammatica della lingua mòchena Deutsch-Fersentalerisch, TEMI, 2003.

Old High German

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Noun

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stern m

  1. Alternative form of sterno

Declension

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Piedmontese

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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stern m

  1. breastbone