quern
/kwɝn/noun, verb
quern is spelled Q-U-E-R-N: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 26 million words in written English, the 154,067th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quern means “A mill for grinding corn, especially a handmill made of two circular stones” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quern is querns.
How many letters and syllables are in quern?
| Letters | 5: Q-U-E-R-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 26 million words; the 154,067th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 quern?
Quern appears about once in every 26 million words in written English, the 154,067th 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 quern?
- US /kwɝn/
- UK /kwɜːn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-quern.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with quern?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as quern from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹn/):
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 quern
- querns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- curn
- kern
- quirn
- querning participle, present
- querned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does quern mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A mill for grinding corn, especially a handmill made of two circular stones.
verb
- 1
To grind; to use a quern.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Quern in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense mill:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | moulin à bras |
| German | Handmühle, Querne |
| Spanish | molino de mano, molino portátil, metate |
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 quern come from?
From Middle English quern, cwerne, from Old English cweorn (“quern, hand-mill, mill”), from Proto-Germanic *kwernō (“millstone”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂wō (“heavy stone”), from *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Swedish kvarn, Tocharian B kärweñe, Lithuanian girna, Russian жёрнов (žórnov, “millstone”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).