stern
/stɝn/adjective, noun, verb
stern is spelled S-T-E-R-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, stern means “Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in stern?
| Letters | 5: S-T-E-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 stern?
Stern appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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 stern?
- UK /stɜːn/
- US /stɝn/
Stern has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-stern.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with stern?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stern from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rents.
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 stern
- sterner comparative
- sternest superlative
- sterns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sterning participle, present
- sterned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stern mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
- 2
Grim and forbidding in appearance.
The remark earned me a stern rebuke.
noun
- 1
The rear part (after end) of a ship or other vessel.
Holonyms: watercraft < vessel
- 2
The post of management or direction.
- 3
The hinder part of anything.
- 4
The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
- 5
A bird, the black tern, seabird.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo steer, to direct the course of (a ship).
- 2
To propel or move backward or stern-first in the water.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stern in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sévère , austère , poupe, arrière |
| German | streng, hart, bitter, unnachgiebig, ernst, unnachsichtig |
| Portuguese | severo, austero, rígido, sério , popa |
| Spanish | adusto , popa |
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 stern come from?
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 stornēn (“to be astonished”), Dutch stuurs (“glum, austere”), Swedish stursk (“insolent”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).