sty

B2 Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /staɪ/ UK /staɪ/ See IPA manual

Freq #31304

Meanings

1

noun
a pen or enclosure in which pigs are kept

The farmer repaired the sty before bringing the pigs in for the night.
2

noun
a place that is extremely dirty, untidy, or unpleasant

After the week-long renovation, the kitchen looked like a sty.
3

noun
a variant spelling of stye, an inflamed swelling at the edge of an eyelid

The pharmacist advised her not to squeeze the painful sty on her eyelid.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a pen or enclosure in which... pigpenpigsty

2 noun · a place that is extremely... hovelpigsty

3 noun · a variant spelling of stye,... styehordeolum

Word family

Forms stiesstyes

Derived forms pigsty

Related forms swine penhordeolum

Etymology

The animal-pen noun descends from Old English sti or stig, 'hall, pen,' with Germanic cognates for livestock enclosures; the filthy-place sense is a comparison with a pigpen. The eyelid word is a separate history: sty is a variant of stye, probably back-formed from Middle English styany, from Old English stigend, literally 'riser,' for the swelling.

Topics

Plants & Agriculture

External links

# sty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /staɪ/
**IPA (UK):** /staɪ/
**Frequency rank:** 31304

## Meanings
1. a pen or enclosure in which pigs are kept
2. a place that is extremely dirty, untidy, or unpleasant
3. a variant spelling of stye, an inflamed swelling at the edge of an eyelid

## Examples
- The farmer repaired the sty before bringing the pigs in for the night.
- After the week-long renovation, the kitchen looked like a sty.
- The pharmacist advised her not to squeeze the painful sty on her eyelid.

## Synonyms
- pigpen
- pigsty
- hovel
- stye

## Derived Forms
- pigsty

## Related Forms
- swine
- pen
- hordeolum

## Etymology
The animal-pen noun descends from Old English sti or stig, 'hall, pen,' with Germanic cognates for livestock enclosures; the filthy-place sense is a comparison with a pigpen. The eyelid word is a separate history: sty is a variant of stye, probably back-formed from Middle English styany, from Old English stigend, literally 'riser,' for the swelling.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture

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