pastern
/ˈpæstəɹn/noun
pastern is spelled P-A-S-T-E-R-N: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pastern means “The part of a horse's leg between the fetlock joint and the hoof” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pastern is pasterns.
How many letters and syllables are in pastern?
| Letters | 7: P-A-S-T-E-R-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 24 million words; the 148,541st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pastern?
Pastern appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pastern?
- UK /ˈpæstən/
- UK /ˈpæstɜːn/
- US /ˈpæstəɹn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pastern.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pastern?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as pastern (/æstəɹn/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: pantser.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pastern
- pasterns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pastern mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The part of a horse's leg between the fetlock joint and the hoof.
It was quite impossible to ride over the deeply-ploughed field; the earth bore only where there was still a little ice, in the thawed furrows the horse's legs sank in above its pasterns.
- 2
obsoleteA shackle for horses while pasturing.
- 3
obsoleteA patten.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pastern in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense area on a horse's leg:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pastern come from?
From Middle English pastron, pastroun, pasturne, from Old French pasturon, diminutive of pasture (“shackle for a horse in pasture”), alteration of Late Latin pastōria after the suffix -ure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).