turn
/tɜɹn/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.32 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make a non-linear physical movement.
Example Sentences
- "the Earth turns"
- "turn on the spot"
- ""A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.[…].""
- "We didn't start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world's been turning"
- "Turn the knob clockwise."
- "It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nos Proto-Indo-European *tórh₁nos Proto-Hellenic *tórnos Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos)bor. Latin tornus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin tornōbor. Proto-West Germanic *turnēn Old English turnian ▲ Latin tornō Old French tornerbor. Middle English turnen English turn From Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian, tyrnan (“to turn, rotate, revolve”), from Proto-West Germanic *turnēn (“to turn, lathe”) (also the source of German turnen and its derivatives) and Old French torner (“to turn”), both from Latin tornāre (“to round off, turn in a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “turning-lathe: a tool used for making circles”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist, bore”). Cognate with Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist, wind”), whence English throw. Displaced native Middle English wenden from Old English wendan (see wend), and Middle English trenden from Old English trendan (see trend), among several other terms.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *terh₁-, turnen, turnian, *turnēn, torner, tornāre
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɜɹn/
- British English: /tɜːn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
turns (present, singular)
turning (participle, present)
turned (participle, past)
turned (past)
turnt (obsolete, participle)
turnt (obsolete, past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
turned (first person, past)
turnest (archaic, present)
turned (past, second person)
turnedst (archaic, past)