Word.ws English Dictionary

extern

/ˈɛkˌstɜː(ɹ)n/

extern noun: a person affiliated with an institution in a lesser capacity, for example, as a non-resident or as a part-time affiliate.

Noun (1)

extern (plural externs)

  1. A person affiliated with an institution in a lesser capacity, for example, as a non-resident or as a part-time affiliate.
    1. A day-scholar.
  2. Outward form or part; exterior.

Adjective

extern

  1. (obsolete, rare) External; outward; not inherent
    • Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so, for my particular end, / For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In complement extern, 'tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • For if the ſoul of man vvere emancipated by virtue, it vvould not need any regulation or monition, beſides that of its invvard Tribunal; vvhich becauſe ſin does uſurp upon, has ſome relief from thoſe extern adjuments.1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter XIV, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas]...

Noun (2)

extern (plural externs)

  1. In the C and C++ programming languages, a variable that can be separately declared in many places, all of them referring to the same variable.
    • Finally, get rid of the two function declarations and two externs that we added at the top of TEFIL.CPP so that we could support file_open().1995, Martin L. Rinehart, Learn C++ Today!, page 552
    • This is probably the big thing with C++, the more you can avoid global concepts and nasty externs the better, an object/class should be totally self-contained.2018, Brian Beuken, The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming

extern meaning in Tamil

extern in Tamil

புற மருத்துவர்

Forms of extern

pluralexterns

Origin of extern

From Middle French externe or its etymon Latin externus.

Short for external; used as a keyword in these programming languages.

Words formed from extern

Questions about extern

What does extern mean?
Extern means a person affiliated with an institution in a lesser capacity, for example, as a non-resident or as a part-time affiliate.
What is extern in Tamil?
Extern in Tamil is புற மருத்துவர். See Extern meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is extern?
Extern can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce extern?
Extern is pronounced /ˈɛkˌstɜː(ɹ)n/.
What is the plural of extern?
The plural of extern is externs.

Words near extern in the dictionary

  1. extermines
  2. extermining
  3. exterminism
  4. exterminist
  5. exterminists
  6. extern
  7. external
  8. external acoustic meatus
  9. external acoustic meatuses
  10. external auditory canal
  11. external auditory canals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: extern (page history and authors); extern (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Yangolin-extern.wav.

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