Contextualizebeta

tern

noun
/tɜːn/UK/tɝn/US

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from ternī — “three each; three at a time”
  2. derived from *tréyes✻ — “three”
  3. derived from ternās
  4. derived from terne — “gathering of three people; trinity”
  5. inherited from terne — “throw of a die or dice showing the number three”

Definitions

  1. Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are…

    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.

  2. A thing with three components

    A thing with three components; a set of three things.

  3. Consisting of three components

    Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.

    • tern flowers    tern leaves
    • a tern schooner, one with three masts
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. A river in Shropshire, England, which joins the Severn at Atcham

      A river in Shropshire, England, which joins the Severn at Atcham; in full, the River Tern.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for tern. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA