FreeScrabbleDictionary

tern

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
4
Words With Friends
5
Letters
4
Pronunciation
/tɜːn/
See all 2 pronunciations
/tɜːn/ · /tɝn/

Definition of tern

5 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
  2. (dated, obsolete)A thing with three components; a set of three things.
  3. (dated, obsolete)A thing with three components; a set of three things.
    “And yet, now even, if Madonna willed, / She'd win a tern in Thursday's lottery, / And better all things.”

adj

  1. (not-comparable, rare)Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.
    “tern flowers    tern leaves”
    “a tern schooner, one with three masts”

name

  1. A river in Shropshire, England, which joins the Severn at Atcham; in full, the River Tern.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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 (“tern; maidservant”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.

Anagrams of tern

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play rent 4 points

Words you can make from tern

11 playable · top: RENT (4 pts)

Best play rent 4 points

3-letter words

4 words

2-letter words

6 words

Hooks

3 extensions · 1 front · 2 back

A single letter you can add to tern to make another valid word.

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