terne

terne

See also: térne

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɜːn/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɝn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
• Homophones: tern, turn (with fern-fir-fur merger)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French terne,[1] from Middle French, from Old French terne (“dim, dull”), from Frankish *darnī (“concealed, hidden; secret”); further etymology unknown, perhaps related to Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark; dirty”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“to darken, dim”).

Adjective

terne (comparative more terne, superlative most terne)

1. Colourless, drab, dull.

Translations

colourless, drab, dull — see colourless,‎ drab,‎ dull

Etymology 2

From terneplate,[2] probably from terne (“colourless, drab, dull”) (see etymology 1) + plate (“layer of a material on the surface of something, plating”).

Noun

terne (countable and uncountable, plural ternes)

1. (also attributively) An alloy coating made of lead and tin (or, more recently, zinc and tin), often with some antimony, used to cover iron or steel.
2. Synonym of terneplate (“thin iron or steel sheeting coated with this alloy”)

Etymology 3

A variant of tern.

Noun

terne (plural ternes)

1. Obsolete spelling of tern (“any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sternidae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail”) [17th c.]

References

1. Compare “terne, adj.¹ (and n.¹)”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
2. “terne, adj.² and n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018; “terne, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

• terne on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Enter, Enter., enter, enter-, entre, rente, treen

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁn/

Etymology 1

From Middle French, from Old French terne (“dull, dim”), from Frankish *darnī (“hidden, secret”).

Adjective

terne (plural ternes)

1. dull; colourless; drab

Related terms

• ternir

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin ternas.

Noun

terne m (plural ternes)

1. (obsolete) trinity, gathering of three people
2. (backgammon, dice games) double-three
3. (bingo) three in a row

Further reading

• “terne”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• enter, entre, entré, rente, renté

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Latin

Adjective

terne

1. vocative masculine singular of ternus

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse þerna.

Noun

terne f or m (definite singular terna or ternen, indefinite plural terner, definite plural ternene)

1. a tern (seabird of family Sternidae)

References

• “terne” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• enter, entre, entré, erten, ertne, rente, -erten, treen, trene

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse þerna. Akin to English tern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²tɛrnə/

Noun

terne f (definite singular terna, indefinite plural terner, definite plural ternene)

1. a tern (seabird of family Sternidae)

References

• “terne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Romani

Adjective

terne

1. inflection of terno:
   1. nominative plural
   2. oblique masculine singular/feminine singular/plural

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Spanish

Verb

terne

1. inflection of ternar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative