-ern

See also: ern, ERN, and Ern

English

Etymology

In form, from Middle English -erne, -ern, -ren, -ron (northern(e), northron, so(u)thern(e), sothron, etc), from Old English -erne (norþerne, etc), from Proto-Germanic *-r- (probably from rebracketing of *nurþrōnijaz etc) + *-ōnijaz, whence also Old High German -rōni, Old Saxon -rōni, Old Norse -rǿnn / Old Norse -ǿnn. In practice, possibly a back-formation from northern, southern, etc.

(Contrast the -ern in hāliġern, etc., which is related to ærn (“place”).)

Suffix

-ern

1. (nonstandard outside fossilized words) Added to the names of directions to form adjectives.

Derived terms

• leftern, rightern

Related terms

• northern, eastern, southern, western
• northron, eastron, southron, westron

See also

• norther, easter, souther, wester

Further reading

• “-ern”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• ner, NER, ren, NRE, -ren, RNE, Ren, ENR, -ner-, REN

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [-ɐn]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Suffix

-ern

1. (now rarely productive) iterative suffix, used to form verbs from other verbs

   Synonym: -eln

2. used to form verbs from nouns, often with an additional prefix

   ‎be- + ‎Weihrauch (“incense”) + ‎-ern → ‎beweihräuchern (“to incense”)

Etymology 2

Extended form of -en, generalised from such forms as silbern, kupfern, ledern, originally also eisern, in which -er is part of the stem.

Suffix

-ern

1. made of (used to form adjectives from nouns)

   ‎Glas (“glass”) + ‎-ern → ‎gläsern (“glassen”)

Etymology 3

-ern

1. Dative plural suffix for nouns that form the plural in -er (with or without Umlaut) or whose plural form (not root) already ends in -er.

   der Mann - den Männern

   der Rechner - den Rechnern

Derived terms

German terms suffixed with -ern

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English -ern, from ærn (“place”).

Suffix

-ern

1. Denotes a place related to the noun it attaches to

Etymology 2

From Old English -erne.

Suffix

-ern

1. Alternative form of -erne

Descendants

• English: -ern

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ern/, [erˠn]

Etymology 1

From the adjectival use of -ærn (“noun suffix denoting location”), from ærn (“place”).

Alternative forms

• -ærn

Suffix

-ern

1. Suffix meaning "a place".

   ‎hāliġ (“holy”) + ‎-ern → ‎hāliġern (“sanctuary, holy place”)

Declension

Declension of -ern (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	-ern	-ernu
accusative	-ern	-ernu
genitive	-ernes	-erna
dative	-erne	-ernum

Derived terms

Old English terms suffixed with -ern

Descendants

• Middle English: -ern

Etymology 2

Variant of -erne.

Suffix

-ern

1. Suffix meaning "toward a place"; alternative form of -erne

Descendants

• Middle English: -erne, -ern
  • English: -ern