terne

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French terne, from Middle French, from Old French terne (“dim, dull”), from Frankish *darnī (“concealed, hidden; secret”); further etymology unknown, perhaps related to Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark; dirty”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“to darken, dim”).

adj

1. Colourless, drab, dull.

Etymology 2

From terneplate, probably from terne (“colourless, drab, dull”) (see etymology 1) + plate (“layer of a material on the surface of something, plating”).

noun

1. (also attributively) An alloy coating made of lead and tin (or, more recently, zinc and tin), often with some antimony, used to cover iron or steel.
2. Synonym of terneplate (“thin iron or steel sheeting coated with this alloy”)

Etymology 3

A variant of tern.

noun

1. Obsolete spelling of tern (“any of various seabirds of the subfamily Sternidae (of the family Laridae) that are similar to gulls but are smaller and have a forked tail”)