What does terne mean?
Terne is an archaic English noun with two historical uses. In its best-known lexical context, it denoted the street cry used by hawkers, especially in London; the cry is commonly glossed as “turn again,” an appeal to customers to return. The word also occurs as a now-obsolete spelling of tern, the gull-like seabird. In contemporary English it is chiefly a dictionary word rather than a normal conversational term. A writer encountering it in nineteenth-century literature should recognize it as commercial or historical vocabulary rather than assume a typo, although its close resemblance to tern can make that judgment difficult. Knowing terne therefore opens two small but revealing doors into older usage: one into the audible language of street trading, the other into the changing spelling of familiar names for birds.
nounAn archaic noun used for a hawker's street cry and, as a variant spelling, for the seabird now called a tern.
- An old street cry used by hawkers, especially in London, commonly associated with the words “turn again.”
- An archaic spelling of the seabird called a tern.
"The old hawker's cry of “terne” once called customers back to his stall."
"The old hawker's cry of “terne” once called customers back to his stall."
"A lone terne circled above the estuary in the pale morning light."
The traditional plural is sternes, although the modern spelling tern normally takes the plural terns.
"Several sternes followed the trawler out toward the open sea."
Terne was once a hawker's street cry; today it survives mainly in dictionaries and as an old spelling of the seabird tern.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does terne come from?
The noun is usually traced to Anglo-French terne, an old hawker's cry associated with Old French tourner, “to turn.” The cry is commonly understood as an appeal meaning “turn again,” intended to bring customers back to the seller. Terne also came to serve as a spelling variant of the bird name tern.
How terne is actually used
Terne is archaic and chiefly associated with British English. It is not a standard word in ordinary modern usage and is now encountered mainly in older literature, historical studies, and dictionaries.
Easily confused with terne
Tern is the standard modern spelling of the seabird; terne is an archaic variant of that name.
Turn is the ordinary modern verb meaning to rotate or reverse direction, whereas terne is an archaic noun associated with hawkers' cries.