sty

Meanings

1. 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. 2
   noun

   a place that is extremely dirty, untidy, or unpleasant

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

3. 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.

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.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary