different between sullen vs stern

English

Etymology

From Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman soleyn (“alone”), from Old French sole (“single, sole, alone”), from Latin s?lus (“by oneself alone”). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?l??n, IPA^(key): /?s?l?n/
• Rhymes: -?l?n
• Hyphenation: sul?len

Adjective

sullen (comparative sullener, superlative sullenest)

1. Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.
   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure

     And sullen I forsook the imperfect feast.

   • 2007, Steven Wilson, "Normal", Porcupine Tree, Nil Recurring.

2. Gloomy; dismal; foreboding.

   a sullen atmosphere

   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, IV. v. 88:

     Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;
3. Sluggish; slow.
4. (obsolete) Lonely; solitary; desolate.
5. (obsolete) Mischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
6. (obsolete) Obstinate; intractable.
   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, Imprudence of Atheism

     Things are as sullen as we are.

Synonyms

(in a bad mood):

• sulky, morose

Antonyms

• cheerful
• content
• lighthearted
• pleased

Translations

Noun

sullen (plural sullens)

1. (obsolete) One who is solitary, or lives alone; a hermit.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

2. (chiefly in the plural) Sullen feelings or manners; sulks; moroseness.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, II. i. 139:

     And let them die that age and sullens have;

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, I.7:

     [M]y brother […] charged my desire of being excused coming down to sullens, because a certain person had been spoken against, upon whom, as he supposed, my fancy ran.

Anagrams

• unsell

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch sulan

Verb

sullen

1. (auxiliary) must, to have to
2. (auxiliary, negated) may, be allowed to
3. (auxiliary) will, shall, be going to (future tense)
4. (auxiliary, in the past tense) to be about to (inchoative)
5. (modal auxiliary) indicates a possible or hypothetical situation
6. (modal auxiliary) indicates information garnered from a third party that may or may not be reliable

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• suelen
• s?len
• sellen
• s?len
• sollen

Descendants

• Dutch: zullen
  • Afrikaans: sal
• Limburgish: zölle, zólle

Further reading

• “sullen”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “sullen”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

Verb

s?llen

1. first-person singular past indicative of suollit

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