cisterna

See also: cisternă

English

Etymology

From Latin cisterna. Doublet of cistern.

Noun

cisterna (plural cisternae)

1. (biology) Any of the various membranes sections comprising some organelles like the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum.

Derived terms

• cisterna chyli
• cisterna magna
• intercisternal
• terminal cisterna

Translations

membrane section comprising organelles

• Dutch: cisterne (nl) f
• Finnish: sisterna
• Hungarian: golgi-zsákok pl, Golgi-zsák sg

Anagrams

• Certains, Cestrian, Cretians, anticers, canister, creatins, nacrites, scantier, tercians

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cisterna.

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisternes)

1. cistern
2. tank (a closed container for liquids or gases)

Further reading

• “cisterna”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “cisterna”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “cisterna” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “cisterna”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē)bor.

Latin cista

Latin -erna

Latin cisternabor.

Czech cisterna

Borrowed from Latin cisterna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡sɪstɛrna]

Noun

cisterna f

1. tank (closed container)

Declension

Declension of cisterna (hard feminine reducible)

	singular	plural
nominative	cisterna	cisterny
genitive	cisterny	cisteren
dative	cisterně	cisternám
accusative	cisternu	cisterny
vocative	cisterno	cisterny
locative	cisterně	cisternách
instrumental	cisternou	cisternami

See also

• nádrž
• jímka

Further reading

• “cisterna”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “cisterna”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Galician

Alternative forms

• cistrena

Etymology

From Latin cisterna, from cista, from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /θisˈtɛɾna/ [θis̺ˈt̪ɛɾ.nɐ]

• IPA^(key): (standard) /θisˈtɛɾna/ [θis̺ˈt̪ɛɾ.nɐ]
• IPA^(key): (seseo) /sisˈtɛɾna/ [sisˈt̪ɛɾ.nɐ]

• Rhymes: -ɛɾna
• Hyphenation: cis‧ter‧na

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisternas)

1. cistern

   Synonyms: alxibe, canfurna

   • 1395, Miguel González Garcés, editor, Historia de La Coruña. Edad Media, A Coruña: Caixa Galicia, page 557:

     Outrosy mandamos que o dicto Martin Bezerra et sua moller nen sua voz nen outro algun non posan fazer poço nen sacar agoa nen fazer algibe nen çistrenna nen otra cousa semellante para teer agoa por maneyra de bastimento dentro en a dicta casa noua nen arredor dela trijnta couedos.

     Also, we command that neither the aforementioned Martin Becerra, nor his wife, nor their successors, nor anyone, could make a well, or extract water, or make a reservoir, or a cistern, or any other such thing for having water as a utility inside the mentioned new house, nor around it for thirty cubits.

Derived terms

• camión cisterna

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “cisterna”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cistrena”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cisterna”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cisterna”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian

Etymology

From Latin cisterna.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisterne)

1. tank (for liquid)
2. cistern

Anagrams

• Canestri, canestri, crestina, scarnite, scartine

Latin

Etymology

From cista +‎ -erna, from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɪsˈtɛr.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃisˈtɛr.na]

Noun

cisterna f (genitive cisternae); first declension

1. cistern, tank (for water), reservoir
   • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Proverbs.5.15:

     bibe aquam dē cisternā tuā et fluenta puteī tuī

     Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cisterna	cisternae
genitive	cisternae	cisternārum
dative	cisternae	cisternīs
accusative	cisternam	cisternās
ablative	cisternā	cisternīs
vocative	cisterna	cisternae

Descendants

• Catalan: cisterna
• Dalmatian: cistierna
• English: cistern
• French: citerne
• Friulian: cistierne
• Galician: cisterna
• German: Zisterne
• Istriot: zustierna
• Italian: cisterna
• Portuguese: cisterna
• Romanian: cisternă
• Russian: цисте́рна (cistérna)
• Sardinian: chisterra, cisterra
• Sicilian: jisterna, sterna
• Spanish: cisterna
• → Umbrian: cisterno

References

• “cisterna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cisterna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cisterna”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin cisterna (“cistern, tank”), from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box, chest”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sisˈteɾna/

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisternas)

1. cistern, well

   Synonym: pozo m

   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 5v:

     vino ruben ala ciſterna. E nõ ẏuẏo aioſeph. e rõpio ſos ueſtidos cõ peſar q̃ ouo. E dẏxo nõ ẏes. yo do ẏre.

     [Vino Ruben a la ciſterna e non ý vio a Joseph, e rompió sos vestidos con pesar que ovo, e dixo “¡Non ý es! ¿Yo do iré?”]

     Reuben came to the cistern and did not see Joseph there, and he tore his clothes over the sorrow he felt, and he said, “He is not there! Where shall I go?”

Descendants

• Spanish: cisterna

Portuguese

cisterna

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cisterna, from cista, from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”), from Proto-Indo-European *kisteh₂ (“woven container”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sisˈtɛʁ.nɐ/ [sisˈtɛɦ.nɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /sisˈtɛʁ.nɐ/ [sisˈtɛɦ.nɐ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /sisˈtɛɾ.nɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /siʃˈtɛʁ.nɐ/
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /sisˈtɛɻ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /siʃˈtɛɾ.nɐ/

• Hyphenation: cis‧ter‧na

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisternas)

1. cistern

   Synonyms: (Portugal) algibe, (Brazil) aljibe

Derived terms

• camião-cisterna

Further reading

• “cisterna”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “cisterna”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cisterna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sǐsteːrna/
• Hyphenation: cis‧ter‧na

Noun

cìstērna f (Cyrillic spelling цѝсте̄рна)

1. cistern
2. tank(er) lorry, tank truck

Declension

Declension of cisterna

	singular	plural
nominative	cìstērna	cisterne
genitive	cisterne	cìstērnā/cìstērnī
dative	cisterni	cisternama
accusative	cisternu	cisterne
vocative	cisterno	cisterne
locative	cisterni	cisternama
instrumental	cisternom	cisternama

References

• “cisterna”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish cisterna, from Latin cisterna, from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box, chest”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θisˈteɾna/ [θisˈt̪eɾ.na] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /sisˈteɾna/ [sisˈt̪eɾ.na] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -eɾna
• Syllabification: cis‧ter‧na

Noun

cisterna f (plural cisternas)

1. cistern

   Synonyms: aljibe, pozo

Derived terms

• avión cisterna
• buque cisterna
• camión cisterna

Further reading

• “cisterna”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025