tern

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• A thing with three components; a set of three things.

Adjective

• Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• arctic tern
• black tern
• common tern
• lesser crested tern
• roseate tern
• sooty tern

Origin

• Via an East Anglian dialect , from some Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, related to Danish terne, Norwegian terne, and Swedish tärna, all from Old Norse þerna, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *þewernǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *tekʷ-. Cognate with Old English stearn.
• The adjective is either derived from the noun, or directly from Latin ternī; see above.