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stern

Pronunciation: /stɜːn/

The English word “stern” has 9 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
  2. Grim and forbidding in appearance.

noun

  1. The rear part (after end) of a ship or other vessel.
  2. The post of management or direction.
  3. The hinder part of anything.
  4. The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
  5. A bird, the black tern, seabird.

verb

  1. To steer, to direct the course of (a ship).
  2. To propel or move backward or stern-first in the water.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.