Stern

See also: stern, stern-, and Štern

English

Alternative forms

• Sterne

Etymology

• As a German and Jewish surname, from the noun Stern (“star”). This was also borrowed into various Slavic languages such as Serbo-Crotian and Slovenian.
• As an English surname, from the adjective stern.

Proper noun

Stern (plural Sterns)

1. A surname.

Derived terms

• Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method
• Stern-Brocot tree
• Stern-Gerlach experiment
• Sternian

Anagrams

• 'rents, Ernst, Snert, nerts, rents, snert, terns

French

Etymology

Borrowed from German Stern.

Proper noun

Stern ?

1. a surname from German

German

Picture dictionary

Stern

Himmelskörper

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Planet

Sterne am Nachthimmel — Stars in the night sky (1, 2)

Eine Animation des Sterns Sirius — An animation of the star Sirius. (2)

Auf der Flagge von Chile ist ein weißer Stern. — There is a white star on the flag of Chile. (3,4)

Etymology

From Middle High German stërne, from Old High German sterno, from Proto-West Germanic *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternǭ, *sternô, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.

See also Dutch ster (“star”), Old English steorra (“star”) (Modern English star), Danish stjerne (“star”), Swedish stjärna (“star”), Icelandic stjarna (“star”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō); also Latin stēlla (“star”), Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) and Sanskrit तारा (tārā, “star”). Doublet of Aster and Star (“celebrity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtɛʁn/, [ʃtɛʁn], [ʃtɛɐ̯n]
• Rhymes: -ɛʁn

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Stern m (strong, genitive Sternes or Sterns, plural Sterne, diminutive Sternchen n or Sternlein n or Sternderl n)

1. a star; a small luminous dot that can be seen on the night sky
   • 1924, Friedrich Bernhard Störzner, Das weiße Männchen auf dem Kirchberge, in: Reinhardtswalder Sagenbüchlein, Buchhandlung Otto Schmidt, page 11:

     Droben am Himmel funkelten die Sterne in seltener Pracht.

     Up in the sky the stars sparkled in unusual magnificence.

   • 1919, Aleksey Remizov, translated by Arthur Luther, Legenden und Geschichten‎^[1] (fiction), Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, →ISBN:

     Und die Sterne gingen mit dem nächtlichen Dunkel, der Morgen graute, […]

     And the stars went away with the dark of the night, the morning dawned, […]

   Morgenstern ― morning star

   Barnards Stern ― Barnard's Star

2. (astronomy) a star; the actual celestial body

   Synonyms: Gestirn n, Sonne f

3. (geometry, heraldry) a star, a mullet, or anything that resembles such an object

   fünfzackiger Stern ― five-pointed star

   Davidstern ― Star of David

   Sternenbanner ― stars and stripes (the flag of the USA)

   NATO-Stern ― NATO star

   der rote Stern ― the red star

4. a star; symbol used as a rating, e.g. for hotels, movies, etc.

   Fünf-Sterne-Hotel ― five-star hotel

5. (printing, often Sternchen) an asterisk (*)

   Synonym: Asterisk m

   • 2007, Klaus M. Rodewig, Amin Negm-Awad, Objective-C und Cocoa: Programmieren unter Apple Mac OS X, 2nd edition, page 83:

     Bei der Deklaration eines Zeigers kann der Stern (Asterisk) sowohl beim Namen der Variablen (int *zahl) als auch beim Datentyp (int* zahl) stehen.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

6. (figuratively, chiefly Sternchen) a star, starlet, celebrity, something or someone popular

   Synonym: Star m

   ein Schlagerstern(chen) ― a schlager-music starlet

7. A term of endearment.
8. (meteorology) a stellar crystal, a snow crystal possessing the shape of a star

Usage notes

• In the diminutive, the predominant contemporary usage is to employ Sternlein in the sense of “luminous dot” and Sternchen in all other senses.

Declension

Declension of Stern [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Stern	die	Sterne
genitive	eines	des	Sternes, Sterns	der	Sterne
dative	einem	dem	Stern, Sterne1	den	Sternen
accusative	einen	den	Stern	die	Sterne

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hypernyms

• Himmelskörper m

Synonyms

Rotwelsch words for star:

• Glanzer
• Pinkert

Hyponyms

• Sonne f

Derived terms

• Abendstern
• Allerstern
• Augenstern
• bestirnt
• Blauer Riese
• Blaustern
• Blumenstern
• Blütenstern
• Brauner Zwerg
• Bruststern
• Davidstern
• Doppelstern
• Einzelstern
• Fixstern
• Fröbelstern
• Glücksstern
• Goldstern
• Haufenstern
• Hefestern
• Hundsstern
• in den Sternen stehen
• Irrstern
• Judenstern
• Klappenstern
• Leitstern
• Mehrfachstern
• Milchstraßenstern
• Morgenstern
• Neutronenstern
• Papierstern
• Polarstern
• Rautenstern
• Riesenstern
• Roter Riese
• Roter Zwerg
• Schlagerstern
• Schwanzstern
• Schwarzer Zwerg
• Schwarzes Loch
• Schweifstern
• Seestern
• Silberstern
• Standstern
• sternbesät
• Sternbild
• Sternchen
• Sterndeutung
• Sternehotel
• sternenartig
• Sternengesang
• Sternenhimmel
• Sternenlicht
• Sternenmeer
• Sternennacht
• Sternennebel
• Sternenschiff
• Sternenstadt
• Sternenstaub
• Sternensystem
• Sternentor
• Sternentstehung
• sternförmig
• sternhagelvoll
• Sternhaufen
• Sternkreuzung
• Sternnebel
• Sternschnuppe
• Sternsystem
• Sternwolken
• Strohstern
• Unglücksstern
• Unheilsstern
• Wandelstern
• Weihnachtsstern
• Weißer Zwerg
• Zimtstern

See also

• Planet m
• Sonne f

Proper noun

Stern m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Sterns or (with an article) Stern, feminine genitive Stern, plural Sterns)

1. a surname

Further reading

• “Stern”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “Stern” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Stern” in Duden online
• Stern on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Stern” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Middle High German stërne, from Old High German sterno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃtɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Syllabification: Stern

Noun

Stern m (plural Stern, diminutive Sternche)

1. star

Noun

Stern f (plural Sterne)

1. forehead

Further reading

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “Stern”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr

Proto-Germanic *sternǭ

Proto-West Germanic *sternō

Old High German sterno

Middle High German stërne

German Sternbor.

Polish Stern

Borrowed from German Stern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstɛrn/
• Rhymes: -ɛrn
• Syllabification: Stern

Proper noun

Stern m pers

1. a male surname from German

Declension

Declension of Stern

	singular	plural
nominative	Stern	Sternowie
genitive	Sterna	Sternów
dative	Sternowi	Sternom
accusative	Sterna	Sternów
instrumental	Sternem	Sternami
locative	Sternie	Sternach
vocative	Sternie	Sternowie

Proper noun

Stern f (indeclinable)

1. a female surname from German

Further reading

• “Stern”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr

Proto-Germanic *sternǭ

Proto-West Germanic *sternō

Old High German sterno

Middle High German stërne

German Sternbor.

Portuguese Stern

Borrowed from German Stern.

Proper noun

Stern m or f by sense

1. a surname from German

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr

Proto-Germanic *sternǭ

Proto-West Germanic *sternō

Old High German sterno

Middle High German stërne

German Sternbor.

Spanish Stern

Borrowed from German Stern.

Proper noun

Stern m or f by sense

1. a surname from German