How do you pronounce tavern?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈtævəɹn/.

Where does tavern come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

tavern

/ˈtævəɹn/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.55 in modern English

Syllables: tav-ern
IPA: /ˈtævəɹn/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A restaurant or bar.

noun

A building containing a bar licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, and offering sleeping accommodations for travelers.

Dated

name

New Inn Hall, Oxford, one of the earliest medieval halls of the University of Oxford.

Obsolete

Example Sentences

"I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betrayes his maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovve vvhat my boy hath don; Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out."
"Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky / I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, / "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup / Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry.""
"At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass."
"At one of the way-stations on his long journey a barmaid at a tavern speaks to Gilgamesh and tries to give him common sense on the human condition."

Etymology

From Middle English taverne, from Old French taverne (“wine shop”), from Latin taberna (“inn”). Doublet of taberna and taverna.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *treb-, taverne, taberna

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈtævəɹn/
British English: /ˈtævən/

Usage

Inflected Forms

taverns (plural) the Tavern (canonical)

Derived Forms

klavern tavernesque tavernful taverning tavernize tavernkeep tavernkeeper tavernkeeping tavernless tavernlike tavernly tavernman

Phrases

tavern-cut tavern fool tavern sandwich tavern stand tavern-style Yellow Tavern

Synonyms

inn alehouse boozer boozing ken bousing ken drinker drinkery gargle-factory gin joint groggery local nineteenth hole

Rhymes With

cavern davern klavern