Word.ws English Dictionary

sistern

sistern is the alternative form of sistren.

Meaning of sistren

Noun (1)

sistren pl (plural only)

  1. (figuratively, plural, plural-only) The (female) body of members, especially of a sorority or religious order.
    • […] teachers, parents, and above all his classmates the seething masses of dutiful zombies and sistren of the Evervirgin Sorority.1997, Enrico Brizzi, Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band

Noun (2)

sistren (plural sistrens)

  1. (Rastafari) A close female friend, family member, or comrade.
    • Come out of the dark and come into the light, sistren.2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 157

Origin of sistern

From Middle English sisterne, systerne, sistren, sustren, sustern, equivalent to sister + -en; or alternatively modelled after brethren.

Questions about sistern

What is sistern the alternative form of?
Sistern is the alternative form of sistren.

Words near sistern in the dictionary

  1. sisterlike
  2. sisterliness
  3. sisterlocks
  4. sisterly
  5. sisterly love
  6. sistern
  7. sisters
  8. Sisters Beach
  9. sisters before misters
  10. Sisters Creek
  11. sisters from another mister

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sistern (page history and authors); sistren (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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Cite this entry: “sistern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sistern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.