tern

Plural: terns

Noun

A slender-billed seabird related to gulls, often migratory.
small slender gull having narrow wings and a forked tail
Any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sterninae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail.
A thing with three components; a set of three things.
A thing with three components; a set of three things.
A lottery prize resulting from the favourable combination of three numbers in the draw.

Adj

Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.

Examples

a tern schooner, one with three masts
Like a tern spotting fish, he quickly identified a potential bingo on the board.
tern flowers tern leaves

Origin / Etymology

Via an East Anglian dialect, from some Scandinavian (North Germanic) language, related to Danish terne, Norwegian terne, and Swedish tärna, all from Old Norse þerna (“tern; maidservant”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā (“handmaid, young girl”). First attested in the 1670s.

Synonyms

tern, ternary, threefold, treble, triadic, trinary, trine, triple

Scrabble Score: 4

tern: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
tern: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tern: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

tern: valid Words With Friends Word