Standard Lemma guide

hern

name · noun · pron · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /hɜːn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n
  • CMU ARPABET: HH ER1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Corner, nook.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A recess beside a wide chimney-fireside.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A corner of angular piece of land; a nook of land projecting into another district, parish, or field.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Heron.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, poetic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

pron

Meaning 6

Hers; her own.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Appalachia, especially

Qualifier: obsolete outside UK and US dialects

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English herne, hyrne, from Old English hyrne (“corner”), from Proto-Germanic *hurnijō, *hurnijǭ (“projecting point, corner, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh2- (“horn”). Doublet of hirn. Further related to horn.

Dialectal variant of heron.

From Middle English hiren, hirne, from the same source as her. The -n was added (especially in the speech of the Midlands and Southern England, starting in the 1300s) by analogy with mine and thine. (Compare ourn.) Displaced in standard speech by the -s form, hers, which see for more. Cognate with West Flemish heurn (“hern”).