terne

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

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”). Doublet of dern.

terne (comparative more terne, superlative most terne)

1. Colourless, drab, dull.

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

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”).

A variant of tern.

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.]

• terne on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

From Old Norse þerna.

terne c (singular definite ternen, plural indefinite terner)

1. tern (Sternidae)

• havterne
• fjordterne
• dværgterne

From Old Danish thærne, from Old Norse þerna, Derived from Old Saxon thiorna. Compare German Dirne.

terne c (singular definite ternen, plural indefinite terner)

1. (historical) maid, young female servant

• “terne” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /tɛʁn/

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

terne (plural ternes)

1. dull; colourless; drab

• ternir

From Middle French terne, from Old French terne, borrowed from Latin ternas.

terne m (plural ternes)

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

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

• enter, entre, entré, rente, renté

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛr.nɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt̪ɛr.ne]

terne

1. vocative masculine singular of ternus

From Old Norse þerna.

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

1. a tern (seabird of family Sternidae)

• “terne” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

From Old Norse þerna. Akin to English tern.

• IPA^(key): /²tɛrnə/

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

1. a tern (seabird of family Sternidae)

• “terne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

terne

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

terne

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