bittern
Syllables: bit·tern/ˈbɪtən/US/ˈbɪtəɹn/
bittern noun: several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
Noun (1)
bittern (plural bitterns)
- Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
- It is a great rock or cliff on the loneliest part of the mountains, and […] is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies which lie on the surface.1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle
Noun (2)
bittern (countable and uncountable, plural bitterns)
- The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
- The saline substance added to soy milk to coagulate it as a primary step in the production of tofu.
- Now we add the bittern.2019, “The Secrets of Tofu across Japan”, in Seasoning the Seasons, NHK World-Japan
- A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
Proper noun capitalized: Bittern
Bittern
- A town in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
bittern meaning in Tamil and Persian
bittern in Tamil
- நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் நாரைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும்
bittern in Persian
- bird of the subfamily Botaurinae
- بوتیمار
More languagesFewer languages
- Dhivehi
- ރާބޮނދި rāboⁿdi
Forms of bittern
| plural | bitterns |
|---|
Origin of bittern
From Middle English bitour, botor, from Old French butor, from Gallo-Roman *butitaurus, a blend of Latin būtiō (“bittern”) and taurus (“bull, ox”).
From bitter with an unclear suffix, perhaps a dialect form of -ing.
Words formed from bittern
- American bittern
- Australasian bittern
- black bittern
- cinnamon bittern
- common bittern
- dwarf bittern
- Eurasian bittern
- forest bittern
- least bittern
- little bittern
- New Zealand bittern
- pinnated bittern
- stripe-backed bittern
- sunbittern
- sun bittern
- sun-bittern
- Von Schrenck's bittern
- yellow bittern
Phrases with bittern
Words that rhyme with bittern
Questions about bittern
- What does bittern mean?
- Bittern means several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
- What is bittern in Tamil?
- Bittern in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் நாரைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும். See Bittern meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is bittern?
- Bittern can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bittern?
- Bittern is pronounced /ˈbɪtən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bittern?
- The plural of bittern is bitterns.
Words near bittern in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bittern (page history and authors); Bittern (page history and authors); bittern (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bittern.wav.
Cite this entry: “bittern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bittern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.