cistern

English

WOTD – 17 August 2008

A rainwater cistern.

A wine cistern.

Etymology

From Middle English cisterne, from Old French cisterne (Modern French citerne) from Latin cisterna, from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”). Doublet of cisterna.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tən/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tɚn/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)n

Noun

cistern (plural cisterns)

A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.
- 1913, A.C. Cotter, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wells in Scripture",
  Their extreme necessity is attested by the countless number of old, unused cisterns with which the Holy Land is literally honeycombed.
- 2001, Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, chapter 3, in Life in Biblical Israel, →ISBN, page 126:
  Cisterns (bôr, bō'r), mentioned frequently in the Bible, are artificial reservoirs, usually cut into bedrock, for collecting and conserving rain runoff from roofs and courtyards.
In a flush toilet, the container in which the water used for flushing is held; a toilet tank.
- 2003, Allan Windust, chapter 9, in Waterwise House & Garden: a Guide for Sustainable Living, →ISBN, page 36:
  It is possible to connect your tank to your toilet cistern and/or garden, so that even if the water is not drinkable it still can be used productively to make major water savings.
A cisterna.
The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.

Derived terms

cerebromedullary cistern
hog cistern

Translations

reservoir for holding water

Albanian: cisternë (sq) f, hauz (sq) m, bot (sq) m
Arabic: صِهْرِيج‎ m (ṣihrīj), فِنْطَاس‎ m (finṭās)
Armenian: ցիստերն (cʿistern)
Bulgarian: резервоар (bg) m (rezervoar), цистерна f (cisterna)
Catalan: cisterna (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 水槽 (zh) (shuǐcáo)
Dalmatian: cistierna f
Dutch: cisterne (nl) f, waterreservoir (nl) n, regenput (nl) m, regenwaterput (nl) m, regenbak (nl) m, waterkelder (nl) m
Esperanto: akvujo, cisterno
Finnish: vesisäiliö, sadevesisäiliö
French: citerne (fr) f
Middle French: cisterne f
Friulian: cistierne f
Galician: canfurna f, cisterna f, alxube (gl) m, alxibe (gl) m
Georgian: ცისტერნა (cisṭerna)
German: Zisterne (de) f
Greek: δεξαμενή (el) f (dexamení), στέρνα (el) f (stérna)
Ancient: δεξαμενή f (dexamenḗ), λάκκος m (lákkos), ἔλυτρον n (élutron)
Hebrew: גֵּב‎ (he) m (gev)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: ciszterna (hu), víztároló (hu)
Ido: aquuyo (io)
Indonesian: perigi (id)
Irish: sistéal m
Istriot: zustierna f
Italian: cisterna (it) f
Japanese: 水槽 (ja) (すいそう, suisō), 貯水槽 (ちょすいそう, chosuisō), タンク (ja) (tanku)
Kazakh: шанаш (şanaş)
Korean: 탱크 (ko) (taengkeu), 수조 (ko) (sujo)
Latin: cisterna f, lacus (la) m
Maori: kurawai
Middle English: cisterne
Ngazidja Comorian: isima class 7/8
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f
Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f
Polish: cysterna (pl) f
Portuguese: cisterna (pt) f
Romanian: cisternă (ro) f
Russian: цисте́рна (ru) f (cistɛ́rna), бак (ru) m (bak)
Sardinian: chisterra f, cisterra, gisterra
Scots: cistren
Scottish Gaelic: amar m
Sicilian: jisterna (scn) f, sterna f
Spanish: aljibe (es) m, cisterna (es) f
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Tibetan: ཆུ་སྒྲོམ (chu sgrom)
Tigrinya: ጋው (ti) (gaw)
Turkish: sarnıç (tr)
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: seston m or f, dyfrgist f

flush toilet's container

Bulgarian: казанче n (kazanče)
Dutch: stortbak (nl) m
Finnish: säiliö (fi), vesisäiliö
French: chasse d'eau (fr) f
German: Spülkasten (de) m
Greek: καζανάκι (el) n (kazanáki)
Hungarian: víztartály (hu)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f
Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f
Russian: бачо́к (ru) m (bačók)
Spanish: cisterna (es) f

cisterna — see cisterna

Anagrams

cinters, cretins, crinets, increst

Swedish

Noun

cistern c

cistern, tank

Declension

Declension of cistern
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	cistern	cisternen	cisterner	cisternerna
Genitive	cisterns	cisternens	cisterners	cisternernas