tern
/tɝn/noun, adjective
tern is spelled T-E-R-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,703rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tern means “Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tern is terns.
How many letters and syllables are in tern?
| Letters | 4: T-E-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 40,703rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tern?
Tern appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,703rd 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 tern?
- UK /tɜːn/
- US /tɝn/
Tern 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-terne.wav, En-us-turn.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with tern
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: turn (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with tern?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tern from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rent, tren.
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 tern
- terns plural
- terne
- more ætern comparative
- most ætern superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tern mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
- 2
datedobsoleteA thing with three components; a set of three things.
- 3
datedobsoleteA lottery prize resulting from the favourable combination of three numbers in the draw.
adjective
- 1
Alternative spelling of eterne.
adjective
- 1
rareConsisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.
tern flowers tern leaves
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tern in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense bird of the subfamily Sternidae:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sterne |
| German | Seeschwalbe, Meerschwalbe |
| Portuguese | andorinha-do-mar, gaivina |
| Spanish | charrán, fumarel, gaviotín |
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 tern come from?
Via an East Anglian dialect, from some Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, related to Danish terne, Norwegian terne, and Swedish tärna, all from Old Norse þerna (“tern; maidservant”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).