sty

Etymology 1

From Middle English sty, from Old English stī, stiġ (“sty, pen, a wooden enclosure; hall”, chiefly in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *stiją. Cognate with German Stiege (“wooden crate”), dialectal German Steige (“hen-coop”), Danish sti (“sty, enclosure for swine, sheep, hens, etc.”), Swedish stia (“sty for pigs, geese, etc.”), Norwegian sti (“flock of sheep”), Icelandic stía (“a kennel”).

noun

1. A pen or enclosure for swine.
2. (figurative) A messy, dirty or debauched place.

verb

1. To place in, or as if in, a sty
2. To live in a sty, or any messy or dirty place

Etymology 2

From Middle English stien, stiȝen, stighen, from Old English stīgan (“to go; ascend, mount”), from Proto-West Germanic *stīgan, from Proto-Germanic *stīganą, from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-. Cognate with Dutch stijgen, German steigen, Danish stige, Norwegian Bokmål stige, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish stiga, Old Norse stíga.

verb

1. (obsolete) To ascend, rise up, climb.
   Led along, as some Creatures are, by the Noses, and voluntarily hood-winked; or like seeled Doves, sty up, you know not whither, nor how far. 1621, Richard Montague, Diatribae upon the first part of the late History of Tithes
   That she might sty to the seat of Beatifick Mirth. 1652, Edward Benlowes, Theophila, or Love's Sacrifice

noun

1. (Britain, dialectal) A ladder.

Etymology 3

From Middle English styanye, mistaken as "sty on eye" yet composed of Old English stīġend (“sty”, literally “riser”), agent noun from stīgan (“to rise”) + Middle English yë (“eye”).

noun

1. (pathology) An inflammation of the eyelid.