Word.ws English Dictionary

ern

UK/ɜːn/US/ɝn/

ern is the alternative spelling of erne.

Verb (1)

ern (third-person singular simple present erns, present participle erning, simple past and past participle erned)

  1. (UK, dialectal) To run; flow.
  2. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) To (cause to) coagulate; curdle (milk) by adding rennet and applying heat.

Verb (2)

ern (third-person singular simple present erns, present participle erning, simple past and past participle erned)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To stir with strong emotion; grieve; mourn.
  2. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) To pain; torture.
  3. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) (of the eyes) To cause to water; smart.

Meaning of erne

Noun

erne (plural ernes)

  1. A sea eagle (Haliaeetus), especially the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
    • Ahoi! come kite! Ahoi! come erne from off the fen!1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 20, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 274
  2. (dialectal, poetic) An eagle.
    • the bald erne

See all 5 meanings of erne

Proper noun capitalized: Ern

Ern

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Ernest.
    • 'That's a good one, that is!' said Ern.1948, Enid Blyton, The Mystery of the Hidden House

Forms of ern

Noun
pluralerns
Verb
third-person singular presenterns
present participleerning
past participleerned
pasterned
alternative formearn

Origin of ern

Alteration of erne.

From Middle English ernen, from Old English irnan, iernan (“to run, move quickly”), metathetic variant of rinnan (“to run”). More at run.

Of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of erme, from Middle English ermen, from Old English yrman, ierman. Compare also Old Scots urn, uren. More at erme.

Words that rhyme with ern

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ern

What does ern mean?
Ern means to run; flow.
What is ern the alternative spelling of?
Ern is the alternative spelling of erne.
What part of speech is ern?
Ern can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ern?
Ern is pronounced /ɜːn/ (UK).
What is the past tense of ern?
The past tense of ern is erned.

Words near ern in the dictionary

  1. Ermont
  2. Ermoupoli
  3. Ermoupolis
  4. Ermoúpolis
  5. ERMs
  6. ern
  7. erna
  8. ernai
  9. Ernakulam
  10. Ernandez
  11. Ernandezes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ern (page history and authors); Ern (page history and authors); erne (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:

Cite this entry: “ern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.