sty

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /staɪ/

  Rhymes: -aɪ

Etymology 1

Old English stī (only attested in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *stijan. Cognate with Norwegian sti (“flock of sheep”).

Noun

sty (plural sties)

1. A pen or enclosure for swine.
2. A messy or dirty place.

Synonyms

• (enclosure for swine): pig pen, pigsty
• (messy or dirty place): hovel, pigsty

Translations

enclosure for swine

Croatian: svinjac (hr) m. Finnish: sikolätti (fi) French: porcherie (fr) f. Macedonian: кочина (mk) (kóčina) f., свињарник (mk) (svínjarnik) m.

Portuguese: chiqueiro (pt) m. Romanian: cocină (ro) f. Russian: хлев (ru) (xl'ev), свинарник (ru) (svinárnik) m. Swedish: stia, svinstia

messy or dirty place

Bulgarian: кочина (bg) (kochina) Croatian: svinjac (hr) m. Macedonian: кочина (mk) (kóčina) f., свињарник (mk) (svínjarnik) m.

Portuguese: chiqueiro (pt) m. Russian: свинарник (ru) (svinárnik) m. Swedish: stia, svinstia

Verb

sty (third-person singular simple present sties, present participle stying, simple past and past participle stied)

1. To place in a sty.
2. To live in a sty, or any messy or dirty place.

Etymology 2

Probably a back-formation from styany.

Alternative forms

• stye

Noun

sty (plural sties)

1. (pathology) An inflammation of the eyelid.

Etymology 3

Old English stīgan, from Old Norse stíga, from Proto-Germanic *stīganan, from Proto-Indo-European *steigʰ-. Cognate with Dutch stijgen, German steigen, Swedish stiga.

Alternative forms

• stee, stie

Verb

sty (third-person singular simple present sties, present participle stying, simple past and past participle stied)

1. (obsolete) To ascend, rise up, climb. [9th-17th c.]
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Isaiah LIII:

     And he schal stie as a ȝerde bifor him, and as a roote fro þirsti lond.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xi:

     The beast impatient of his smarting wound, / And of so fierce and forcible despight, / Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground [...].

Translations

to rise up

Swedish: stiga (sv)

Noun

sty (plural sties)

1. (UK, dialectal) A ladder.

Translations

a ladder

Swedish: stege (sv)