darn

See also: darń

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɑɹn/
• (New England) IPA^(key): /daːn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɑːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)n

Etymology 1

A minced oath of damn.

Adjective

darn (not comparable)

1. (euphemistic) Damn.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:damned

Derived terms

• darn tootin'

Translations

damn — see damn

Adverb

darn (not comparable)

1. (degree, euphemistic) Damned.
   • 2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     Of the two episodes, “Mortshall” is slightly weaker, while still being pretty darn good. I spent a lot of this season bemoaning the weaker entries, and like I said last time, it’s shit like this that makes me complain when stuff gets super dumb.

Interjection

darn

1. (euphemistic) Damn.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:dammit

Derived terms

• darn tootin'

Translations

Translations

Verb

darn (third-person singular simple present darns, present participle darning, simple past and past participle darned)

1. (transitive) Euphemism of damn.

Synonyms

• dang
• damn

Translations

damn — see damn

Etymology 2

Darning

From Middle English dernen (“to keep secret, hide, conceal (a hole)”), from Old English diernan (“to hide, conceal”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnijan, from Proto-West Germanic *darnī (“hidden, secret”). Related to Old English dyrne, dierne (“secret”, adjective).

Verb

darn (third-person singular simple present darns, present participle darning, simple past and past participle darned)

1. (transitive, sewing) To repair by stitching with thread or yarn, particularly by using a needle to construct a weave across a damaged area of fabric.

   I need to darn these socks again.

   • a. 1746, Jonathan Swift, “An Essay on the Fates of Clergymen”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], volume V, new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, OCLC 1184656746, page 116:

     He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in reading his courses, dozing, clipping papers, or darning his stockings; which last he performed to admiration.

Usage notes

Predominantly used to described repairs to stockings or socks. The frequency of references to both follows their general prominence, references to stockings being more historically prominent, references to socks being more recently prominent.

Related terms

• darning needle

Translations

stitch with thread

• Bulgarian: замрежвам (bg) (zamrežvam), закърпвам (bg) (zakǎrpvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 織補 (zh), 织补 (zh) (zhībǔ), 縫補 (zh), 缝补 (zh) (féngbǔ)

• Czech: štupovat
• Dutch: stoppen (nl)
• Finnish: parsia (fi)
• French: repriser (fr)
• Galician: zurcir (gl)
• Georgian: კემსვა (ḳemsva), ნემსვა (nemsva)
• German: stopfen (de)
• Greek: μαντάρω (el) (mantáro)
• Hungarian: stoppol (hu)
• Ido: darnar (io)

• Irish: dearnáil
• Italian: rammendare (it)
• Japanese: かがる (kagaru), 繕う (ja) (つくろう, tsukurou)
• Norman: dèrner
• Polish: cerować (pl) impf, zacerować pf
• Portuguese: remendar (pt), cerzir (pt)
• Russian: што́пать (ru) impf (štópatʹ)
• Sanskrit: सीव्यति (sa) (sī́vyati)
• Slovak: štopkať
• Spanish: zurcir (es), surcir (es)
• Swedish: stoppa (sv)
• Ukrainian: церувати (uk) (ceruvaty), зацеровувати (zacerovuvaty), зацерувати pf (zaceruvaty)
• Vietnamese: mạng (vi)

Noun

darn (plural darns)

1. A place mended by darning.

Further reading

• Darning on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• DNAR, DNRA, Nard, RAND, Rand, andr-, nard, rDNA, rand, rdna

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Welsh

Etymology

Compare Cornish darn, Breton darn; From Proto-Celtic *dar-nā < Proto-Indo-European *der-. Cognate with Ancient Greek δέρο (déro).

Noun

darn m or f (plural darnau)

1. a piece

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
darn	ddarn	narn	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “darn”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies