tern
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.
Adjective
- Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.
- tern flowers tern leaves
- a tern schooner, one with three masts
Synonyms: ternary treble trine tern threefold triadic trinary triple
Origin
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 dated, obsolete
- A thing with three components; a set of three things.
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(gambling, dated) A lottery prize resulting from the favourable combination of three numbers in the draw.
- And yet, now even, if Madonna willed, / She'd win a tern in Thursday's lottery, / And better all things. - 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Seventh Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published...
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Forms
Noun Entry 3
- 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.
Origin
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.
Forms
Hyponyms
angel tern arctic tern black tern bridled tern Cabot's tern Caspian tern commic tern common tern crested tern fairy tern Forster's tern greater crested tern gull-billed tern hooded tern least tern lesser crested tern little tern marsh tern river tern roseate tern rosy tern royal tern sandwich tern Sandwich tern