cistern

English

WOTD – 17 August 2008

A rainwater cistern.

A wine cistern.

Etymology

From Middle English cisterne, from Old French cisterne (Modern French citerne) from Latin cisterna, from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”). Doublet of cisterna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tɚn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)n

Noun

cistern (plural cisterns)

1. A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.
   • 1913, A.C. Cotter, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wells in Scripture",

     Their extreme necessity is attested by the countless number of old, unused cisterns with which the Holy Land is literally honeycombed.

   • 2001, Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, chapter 3, in Life in Biblical Israel, →ISBN, page 126:

     Cisterns (bôr, bō'r), mentioned frequently in the Bible, are artificial reservoirs, usually cut into bedrock, for collecting and conserving rain runoff from roofs and courtyards.

2. In a flush toilet, the container in which the water used for flushing is held; a toilet tank.
   • 2003, Allan Windust, chapter 9, in Waterwise House & Garden: a Guide for Sustainable Living, →ISBN, page 36:

     It is possible to connect your tank to your toilet cistern and/or garden, so that even if the water is not drinkable it still can be used productively to make major water savings.

3. A cisterna.
4. The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.

Translations

reservoir for holding water

• Albanian: cisternë (sq) f, hauz (sq) m, bot (sq) m
• Arabic: صِهْرِيج m (ṣihrīj), فِنْطَاس m (finṭās)
• Armenian: ցիստերն (cʻistern)
• Bulgarian: резервоар (bg) m (rezervoar), цистерна f (cisterna)
• Catalan: cisterna (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水槽 (zh) (shuǐcáo)

• Dalmatian: cistierna f
• Dutch: cisterne (nl) f, waterreservoir (nl) n, regenput (nl) m, regenwaterput (nl) m, regenbak (nl) m, waterkelder (nl) m
• Esperanto: akvujo, cisterno
• Finnish: vesisäiliö, sadevesisäiliö
• French: citerne (fr) f

  Middle French: cisterne f

• Friulian: cistierne f
• Georgian: ცისტერნა (ცისტერნა)
• German: Zisterne (de) f
• Greek: δεξαμενή (el) f (dexamení), στέρνα (el) f (stérna)

  Ancient: δεξαμενή f (dexamenḗ), λάκκος m (lákkos), ἔλυτρον n (élutron)

• Hebrew: גֵּב (he) m (gev)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: ciszterna (hu), víztároló (hu)
• Ido: aquuyo (io)
• Indonesian: perigi (id)
• Irish: sistéal m
• Istriot: zustierna f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cisterna (it) f
• Japanese: 水槽 (ja) (すいそう, suisō), 貯水槽 (ちょすいそう, chosuisō), タンク (ja) (tanku)
• Kazakh: шанаш (şanaş)
• Korean: 탱크 (ko) (taengkeu), 수조 (ko) (sujo)
• Latin: cisterna f, lacus (la) m
• Maori: kurawai
• Middle English: cisterne
• Ngazidja Comorian: isima class 7/8
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f

  Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f

• Polish: cysterna (pl) f
• Portuguese: cisterna (pt) f
• Romanian: cisternă (ro) f
• Russian: цисте́рна (ru) f (cistɛ́rna), бак (ru) m (bak)
• Sardinian: chisterra f, cisterra, gisterra
• Scots: cistren
• Scottish Gaelic: amar m
• Sicilian: jisterna (scn) f, sterna f
• Spanish: aljibe (es) m, cisterna (es) f
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: ཆུ་སྒྲོམ (chu sgrom)
• Tigrinya: ጋው (ti) (gaw)
• Turkish: sarnıç (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: seston m or f, dyfrgist f

flush toilet's container

• Bulgarian: казанче n (kazanče)
• Dutch: stortbak (nl) m
• Finnish: säiliö (fi), vesisäiliö
• French: chasse d’eau (fr) f
• German: Spülkasten (de) m
• Greek: καζανάκι (el) n (kazanáki)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: víztartály (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f

  Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f

• Russian: бачо́к (ru) m (bačók)
• Spanish: cisterna (es) f

cisterna — see cisterna

Anagrams

• cinters, cretins, crinets, increst

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Swedish

Noun

cistern c

1. cistern, tank

Declension

Declension of cistern

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	cistern	cisterns
	definite	cisternen	cisternens
plural	indefinite	cisterner	cisterners
	definite	cisternerna	cisternernas