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eisern

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German īseren, īserīn, from Old High German īsarnīn. Equivalent to Eiser (iron), older variant of Eisen +‎ -en. Now reanalysable as Eisen (iron) +‎ -ern, but historically eisern is itself one of the words that contributed to the development of this extended suffix -ern (see there).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈaɪ̯zɐn/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ei‧sern

Adjective

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eisern (strong nominative masculine singular eiserner, comparative (rare) eiserner, superlative am eisernsten)

  1. iron, ironclad, made of iron
  2. (figurative) staunch, unyielding

Usage notes

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  • As usual, Modern German prefers compound nouns to the adjective construction, e.g. rather Eisenstange than eiserne Stange (iron rod). Therefore the figurative use is now predominant.

Declension

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Derived terms

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See also

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Further reading

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  • eisern” in Duden online
  • eisern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache