different between stern vs sudden

English

Alternative forms

• sterne (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: stûrn, IPA^(key): /st?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: stûn, IPA^(key): /st??n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n

Etymology 1

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 storn?n (“to be astonished”), Dutch stuurs (“glum, austere”), Swedish stursk (“insolent”).

Adjective

stern (comparative sterner, superlative sternest)

1. Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
   • stern as tutors, and as uncles hard
2. Grim and forbidding in appearance.
   • 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion

     these barren rocks, your stern inheritance

Translations

Etymology 2

Most likely from Old Norse stjórn (“control, steering”), related to stýra (“to steer”), from Proto-Germanic *stiurijan?, whence also English steer. Also possibly from Old Frisian stiarne (“rudder”), from the same Germanic root.

Noun

stern (plural sterns)

1. (nautical) The rear part or after end of a ship or vessel.
2. (figuratively) The post of management or direction.
3. The hinder part of anything.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

4. The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.

Synonyms

• (of a ship): poop

Antonyms

• bow

Derived terms

• from stem to stern
• sternpost

Translations

See also

• keel
• aft

Etymology 3

From a variant of tern.

Noun

stern (plural sterns)

1. A bird, the black tern.

Translations

Anagrams

• 'rents, Ernst, Snert, nerts, rents, snert, terns

Dutch

Etymology

Possibly cognate with Latin sturnus (“starling”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?r/
• Rhymes: -?r

Noun

stern m (plural sterns or sternen, diminutive sterntje n)

1. tern

Middle English

Noun

stern

1. Alternative form of sterne

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German stërne, stërre, stërn, from Old High German sterno, from Proto-Germanic *stern?, from Proto-Indo-European *h?st?r (“star”). Cognate with German Stern, English star.

Noun

stern m

1. star

References

• Anthony R. Rowley, Liacht as de sproch: Grammatica della lingua mòchena Deutsch-Fersentalerisch, TEMI, 2003.

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?r?/

Noun

stern m

1. breastbone

English

Etymology

From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subit?nus (“sudden”), from Latin subit?neus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of sub?re (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + ?re (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?d?n/, [?s?dn?]
• Rhymes: -?d?n
• Hyphenation: sud?den

Adjective

sudden (comparative more sudden, superlative most sudden)

1. Happening quickly and with little or no warning.

2. (obsolete) Hastily prepared or employed; quick; rapid.
3. (obsolete) Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate.

Synonyms

• (happening quickly): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden
• (hasty, rash): hotheaded, impetuous, impulsive; see also Thesaurus:reckless

Antonyms

• (happening quickly): gradual; see also Thesaurus:gradual
• (all): unsudden

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

sudden (comparative more sudden, superlative most sudden)

1. (poetic) Suddenly.

Noun

sudden (plural suddens)

1. (obsolete) An unexpected occurrence; a surprise.

Derived terms

• all of a sudden
• all of the sudden
• of a sudden
• on a sudden
• upon a sudden

Translations

Further reading

• sudden in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sudden in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• sudden at OneLook Dictionary Search