Standard Lemma guide

turnstone

noun · 2 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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Either of two species of coastal wading bird, Arenaria interpres and Arenaria melanocephala, that breed in the Arctic and readily turn stones or seaweed looking for hidden invertebrates.

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

migratory shorebirds of the plover family that turn over stones in searching for food

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: plover

Narrower terms: ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres, black turnstone, Arenaria-Melanocephala

History

Etymology

From turn + stone.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: камъкообръща́ч (kamǎkoobrǎštáč) — coastal wading bird
  • Catalan: remena-rocs — coastal wading bird
  • Catalan: picaplatges — coastal wading bird
  • Czech: kamenáček — coastal wading bird
  • Czech: kameňáček — coastal wading bird
  • Dutch: steenloper — coastal wading bird
  • Finnish: karikukko — coastal wading bird
  • German: Steinwälzer — coastal wading bird
  • Hungarian: kőforgató — coastal wading bird
  • Irish: piardálai trá — coastal wading bird
  • Italian: voltapietre — coastal wading bird
  • Polish: kamusznik — coastal wading bird
  • Russian: камнешарка (kamnešarka) — coastal wading bird
  • Spanish: vuelvepiedras — coastal wading bird
  • Welsh: hutan y dŵr — coastal wading bird
  • Welsh: hutan y môr — coastal wading bird