dern

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /dɝn/ UK /dɜːn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
secret or hidden; (dialectally) to darn or mend

In the old ballad the lovers kept their dern meetings by the river.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · secret or hidden;... secret hidden concealed dark obscure mend darn

Opposites

open revealed visible

Word family

Related forms darn

Etymology

From Old English dierne ('secret, hidden, dark'), from Proto-West Germanic *darni ('hidden'). Now archaic and dialectal; the verb sense 'to darn or mend' is a dialectal variant of darn.

dierne Old English *darnjaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# dern

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /dɝn/
**IPA (UK):** /dɜːn/

## Meanings
1. secret or hidden; (dialectally) to darn or mend

## Examples
- In the old ballad the lovers kept their dern meetings by the river.

## Synonyms
- secret
- hidden
- concealed
- dark
- obscure
- mend
- darn

## Antonyms
- open
- revealed
- visible

## Related Forms
- darn

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dierne
- Root: *darnjaz

## Etymology
From Old English dierne ('secret, hidden, dark'), from Proto-West Germanic *darni ('hidden'). Now archaic and dialectal; the verb sense 'to darn or mend' is a dialectal variant of darn.

## AI Etymology
Dern is from Old English dierne ('secret, hidden, dark'), from Proto-West Germanic *darni ('hidden'). Now archaic and dialectal; the verb sense 'to darn or mend' is a dialectal variant of darn. Important recorded forms include dierne (Old English) and *darnjaz (Proto-Germanic). The current sense covers secret or hidden; (dialectally) to darn or mend. The wider family includes related words such as darn.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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