# stern

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stɜːn/ · frequency rank #8,356

## Definitions
1. Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
2. Grim and forbidding in appearance.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **STR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-str)
- **stir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-stir)
- **stew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-stew)
- **stun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-stun)
- **Sven** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sven)
- **story** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-story)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-store)
- **Steve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-steve)
- **storm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-storm)
- **sworn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sworn)
- **stork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-stork)
- **stews** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-stews)
- **sturt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sturt)
- **Sturm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sturm)
- **Steven** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-steven)
- **strewn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-strewn)
- **sternum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sternum)
- **sternly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stern-vs-sternly)
- **sen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sen-vs-stern)
- **ser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ser-vs-stern)

## Common misspellings (8)
`setrn`, `sstern`, `stenr`, `sternn`, `sterrn`, `stren`, `sttern`, `tsern`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/stern