eisern
German
Etymology
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
- IPA(key): /ˈaɪ̯zɐn/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: ei‧sern
Adjective
eisern (strong nominative masculine singular eiserner, comparative (rare) eiserner, superlative am eisernsten)
- iron, ironclad, made of iron
- (figurative) staunch, unyielding
Usage notes
- 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
- Eiserne Krone
- Eiserner Vorhang m (“Iron Curtain”)
- eiserner Wille
- Eisernes Kreuz
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