"-ern" meaning in English

See -ern in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Suffix

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”).) Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|-erne}} Middle English -erne, {{inh|en|ang|-erne}} Old English -erne, {{der|en|gem-pro|-}} Proto-Germanic, {{cog|goh|-rōni}} Old High German -rōni, {{cog|osx|-rōni}} Old Saxon -rōni, {{cog|non|-rǿnn}} Old Norse -rǿnn, {{cog|non|-ǿnn}} Old Norse -ǿnn Head templates: {{head|en|suffix|cat2=|cat3=|head=|id=}} -ern, {{en-suffix}} -ern
  1. (nonstandard outside fossilized words) Added to the names of directions to form adjectives. Tags: morpheme Derived forms: leftern, rightern
    Sense id: en--ern-en-suffix-HZik9a-U Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries, Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 36 5 6 24 11 8 4 3 3 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 30 4 4 31 12 12 3 2 2 Related terms: northern, eastern, southern, western, northron, eastron, southron, westron, norther, easter, souther, wester
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "-erne"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English -erne",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "-erne"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English -erne",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "-rōni"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German -rōni",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "osx",
        "2": "-rōni"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Saxon -rōni",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-rǿnn"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse -rǿnn",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-ǿnn"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse -ǿnn",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.\n(Contrast the -ern in hāliġern, etc., which is related to ærn (“place”).)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "head": "",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-ern",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "-ern",
      "name": "en-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 5 6 24 11 8 4 3 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 4 4 31 12 12 3 2 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "leftern"
        },
        {
          "word": "rightern"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Added to the names of directions to form adjectives."
      ],
      "id": "en--ern-en-suffix-HZik9a-U",
      "qualifier": "nonstandard outside fossilized words",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nonstandard outside fossilized words) Added to the names of directions to form adjectives."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "northern"
        },
        {
          "word": "eastern"
        },
        {
          "word": "southern"
        },
        {
          "word": "western"
        },
        {
          "word": "northron"
        },
        {
          "word": "eastron"
        },
        {
          "word": "southron"
        },
        {
          "word": "westron"
        },
        {
          "word": "norther"
        },
        {
          "word": "easter"
        },
        {
          "word": "souther"
        },
        {
          "word": "wester"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-ern"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Old English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Old English lemmas",
    "Old English suffixes",
    "Old English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Pages with 4 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "leftern"
    },
    {
      "word": "rightern"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "-erne"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English -erne",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "-erne"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English -erne",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "-rōni"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German -rōni",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "osx",
        "2": "-rōni"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Saxon -rōni",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-rǿnn"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse -rǿnn",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-ǿnn"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse -ǿnn",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.\n(Contrast the -ern in hāliġern, etc., which is related to ærn (“place”).)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "head": "",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-ern",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "-ern",
      "name": "en-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "northern"
    },
    {
      "word": "eastern"
    },
    {
      "word": "southern"
    },
    {
      "word": "western"
    },
    {
      "word": "northron"
    },
    {
      "word": "eastron"
    },
    {
      "word": "southron"
    },
    {
      "word": "westron"
    },
    {
      "word": "norther"
    },
    {
      "word": "easter"
    },
    {
      "word": "souther"
    },
    {
      "word": "wester"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nonstandard terms",
        "English suffixes",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old English",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Old English",
        "Pages with 4 entries",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Added to the names of directions to form adjectives."
      ],
      "qualifier": "nonstandard outside fossilized words",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nonstandard outside fossilized words) Added to the names of directions to form adjectives."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-ern"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (51d164f and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.