ehern

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ēren, ērīn, from Old High German ērīn, derived from ēr (“ore”), from Proto-Germanic *aiz. Not related with Erz (“ore”), but associated with it.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈeː.ərn/, [ˈʔeː.ɐn]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: ehern
  • Homophones: ehren, Ehren (chiefly casual speech)

Adjective

ehern (strong nominative masculine singular eherner, comparative eherner, superlative am ehernsten)

  1. (archaic, poetic) made of ore, thus of metal, especially iron
    Trifft uns die Todeskugel, ruft uns das Schicksal ab,
    Dann wird uns der Panzer ein ehernes Grab.
    When the bullet of death hits us, when we are called by destiny,
    Then our tank becomes an iron grave for us. (Line from the Panzerlied)
  2. (figurative, of a rule, will, etc.) iron, inflexible
    ein ehernes Gesetz ― an iron law

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Synonyms

See also

Further reading
  • “ehern” in Duden online
  • “ehern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
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