stern

See also: Stern and stern-

English

Alternative forms

sterne (obsolete)

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) enPR: stûn, IPA^(key): /stɜːn/
(General American) enPR: stûrn, IPA^(key): /stɝn/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

Etymology 1

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

stern (comparative sterner, superlative sternest)

Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
- 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078, [verse 17]; 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], 1594, OCLC 701755207, lines [97–100]:
  I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]
- 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis; John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 80026745:
  stern as tutors, and as uncles hard
- 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
  Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.
Grim and forbidding in appearance.
- 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion
  these barren rocks, your stern inheritance

Translations

having a hardness and severity of nature or manner

Arabic: صَارِم‎ (ṣārim), مُتَشَدِّد‎ (mutašaddid)
Armenian: խիստ (hy) (xist)
Azerbaijani: tündməcaz, tündxasiyyət, sərt (az)
Bulgarian: суро́в (bg) m (suróv), строг (bg) m (strog), твърд (bg) m (tvǎrd)
Catalan: sever
Dutch: streng (nl)
Finnish: ankara (fi)
French: sévère (fr)
Georgian: სასტიკი (ka) (sasṭiḳi)
German: streng (de), hart (de), bitter (de), unnachgiebig (de), ernst (de), unnachsichtig, gestreng (de) (dated)
Greek: αυστηρός (el) (afstirós)
Hungarian: szigorú (hu), rideg (hu)
Italian: austero (it), severo (it), duro (it), rigido (it)
Japanese: 厳格な (ja) (げんかくな, genkaku na)
Latin: tētricus, firmatus
Malayalam: കർശന (ml) (kaṟśana), കർക്കശ (ml) (kaṟkkaśa)
Maori: makiki, taikaha
Plautdietsch: ieeboa
Polish: surowy (pl)
Portuguese: severo (pt), austero (pt), rígido (pt)
Romanian: dur (ro), sever (ro)
Russian: стро́гий (ru) (strógij), суро́вый (ru) (suróvyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic:
Roman: jak (sh), snažan (sh), čvrst (sh), čeličan, grubost (sh), surovost (sh), strogost (sh)
Slovak: neúprosný, tvrdý, prísny
Spanish: severo (es)
Swedish: sträng (sv), rigorös (sv), strikt (sv), barsk (sv), hård (sv)
Turkish: sert (tr), haşin (tr), katı (tr)
Ukrainian: суво́рий m (suvóryj), стро́гий m (stróhyj)

grim and forbidding in appearance

Bulgarian: неприве́тлив (bg) m (neprivétliv), недружелю́бен (bg) m (nedruželjúben), негостоприе́мен (bg) m (negostopriémen), мра́чен (bg) m (mráčen)
Finnish: ankara (fi), tuima (fi)
French: austère (fr)
German: düster (de), unfreundlich (de), abweisend (de), abschreckend (de)
Greek: βλοσυρός (el) (vlosyrós)
Hungarian: zord (hu)
Italian: arcigno (it), inflessibile (it)
Japanese: 荘厳な (ja) (そうごんな, sōgon na)
Maori: taikaha
Russian: мра́чный (ru) (mráčnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: gruamach
Slovak: neprívetivý
Swedish: hård (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 嚴厲／严厉 (zh), ^{(please verify)} 严厉 (zh) (yánlì)
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} కఠినమైన (te) (kaṭhinamaina)

Etymology 2

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

stern (plural sterns)

Stern of the VOC ship 'Amsterdam' (replica)

(nautical) The rear part or after end of a ship or vessel.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
  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.
(figurative) The post of management or direction.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
  and sit chiefest stern of public weal
The hinder part of anything.
The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 18, page 8:
  And all attonce her beaſtly bodie raizd / With doubled forces high aboue the ground: / Tho wrapping vp her wrethed ſterne arownd, / Lept fierce vpon his ſhield, [...]

Synonyms

(of a ship): poop

Antonyms

bow

Derived terms

from stem to stern
sternpost

Translations

the rear part or after end of a ship or vessel

Albanian: shtreze (sq)
Armenian: նավախել (hy) (navaxel)
Asturian: popa f
Basque: txopa
Belarusian: карма f (karma)
Bulgarian: кърма́ (bg) f (kǎrmá)
Catalan: popa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 船尾 (zh) (chuánwěi), ^{(please verify)} 舳 (zh) (zhú)
Czech: záď (cs) f
Danish: agterstævn c, agterende c
Dutch: achtersteven (nl) m, achterschip (nl) n
Erzya: венчбуло (venčbulo)
Esperanto: poŭpo, pobo
Estonian: ahter
Finnish: perä (fi), ahteri (fi)
French: poupe (fr) f, arrière (fr) m
Galician: popa (gl) f
Georgian: კიჩო (ḳičo)
German: Heck (de) n, Schiffshinterteil n, Hinterschiff n
Gothic: 𐌽𐍉𐍄𐌰 m (nōta)
Greek: πρύμνη (el) f (prýmni)
Ancient: πρύμνη f (prúmnē)
Hungarian: tat (hu), hajótat (hu)
Icelandic: skutur m
Ido: pupo (io)
Irish: deireadh m
Istriot: poûpa f
Italian: poppa (it) f
Japanese: 船尾 (ja) (せんび, senbi)
Korean: 선미 (ko) (seonmi)
Latin: puppis f
Lushootseed: ʔillaq
Malay: buritan
Malayalam: അമരം (ml) (amaraṃ)
Manx: cashtal jerree m, arbyl m
Maori: kei, tā, noko
Norman: poupe f, tillac m
Norwegian: akterende (no) m
Bokmål: akterstavn (no) m, hekk m, akterspeil (no) n, akterende (no) m
Nynorsk: hekk m, akterende m, akterspegel m, akterstamn m
Old English: stēorsetl n
Ottoman Turkish: پوپا‎ (pupa)
Polish: rufa (pl) f
Portuguese: popa (pt) f
Russian: корма́ (ru) f (kormá)
Serbo-Croatian: krma (sh) f
Slovak: korma f
Slovene: krma (sl) f
Spanish: popa (es) f
Swedish: akter (sv) c, bakstam c poop (sv) c (archaic)
Tagalog: popa
Ukrainian: корма (uk) f (korma)
Venetian: pòpe (vec) m (small ship), pupa (vec) f (big ship)
Volapük: pödanaf, pödastev
Welsh: starn f

figuratively: post of management or direction

Finnish: peräsin (fi)
Malayalam: അമരം (ml) (amaraṃ)

hinder part of anything

Finnish: perä (fi)

tail of an animal

Finnish: häntä (fi)

Verb

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

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

Etymology 3

From a variant of tern.

Noun

stern (plural sterns)

A bird, the black tern.

Translations

black tern — see black tern

Anagrams

'rents, Ernst, Snert, nerts, rents, snert, terns

Dutch

Etymology

Possibly cognate with Latin sturnus (“starling”).

Pronunciation

audio (file)
IPA^(key): /stɛr/
Rhymes: -ɛr

Noun

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

tern

Middle English

Noun

stern

Alternative form of sterne

Mòcheno

Etymology

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

stern m

star

References

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

Old High German

Noun

stern m

Alternative form of sterno

Declension

Declension of stern (masculine a-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	stern	sterna
accusative	stern	sterna
genitive	sternes	sterno
dative	sterne	sternum
instrumental	sternu	—

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /stɛrŋ/

Noun

stern m

breastbone