churn

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churn

/tʃɜːn/ UK
/t͡ʃɝn/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n

Where it comes from

Noun from Middle English chyrne, cherne, kyrne ( > Scots kirn), from Old English ċyrn, ċyrin, ċirin (“churn”), from Proto-Germanic *kirnijǭ (“churn”); verb from Middle English chyrnen from Old English ċernan, from Proto-Germanic *kirnijaną (“to churn, stir”), of unknown origin. Cognate with West Frisian tsjerne, Dutch karn, Walloon serene, German Karn, Kirne, Norwegian Bokmål kjerne, Danish kærne, Swedish kärna, Icelandic kirna.

verb churns · churning · churned

transitive To agitate rapidly and repetitively, or to stir with a rowing or rocking motion; generally applies to liquids, notably cream. Now the cream is churned to make butter.
figuratively, transitive To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion. The slope of the terrain, shaped like a funnel, squeezed the growing swell of churning snow into a steep, twisting gorge.
intransitive To move rapidly and repetitively with a rocking motion; to tumble, mix or shake. I was so nervous that my stomach was churning.
Similar: heave
of a customer To stop using a company's product or service. Subscriptions can be ended or canceled, which is known as churn. If there are no subscriptions, a customer churns when they stop using the product.
informal To repeatedly cancel and rebook a reservation in order to refresh ticket time limits or other fare rule restrictions.
US, informal To continually sign up for new credit cards in order to earn signup bonuses, airline miles, and other benefits.
To carry out wash sales in order to make the market appear more active than it really is.
Internet To digest.

noun churns

countable, uncountable A vessel used for churning, especially for producing butter. a butter churn
countable, uncountable A milk churn (container for the transportation of milk). As the ends of the up and down platforms are not opposite each other, it is not possible to provide the ordinary type of barrow crossing, and the full churns were too heavy to be man-handled up and down the stairs of the footbridge.
uncountable Customer attrition; the phenomenon or rate of customers leaving a company.
countable, uncountable The time when a consumer switches his/her service provider.
countable, uncountable The mass of people who are ready to switch carriers.
countable, uncountable Cyclic activity that achieves nothing. I wished my brain would shut up and knew that soon I'd have to start tidying, but first I needed to rest, so I tried to quell the pointless churn behind my eyes and kept on trying (in a minute) until Vicky came back home.
countable, historical, uncountable The last grain cut at harvest; kern.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: roil, moil, boil, butter churn, agitate, rollover, revolving, rotational, roll-over, smolder, rolling, brakes, rollovers, churn up, churn out, mill

Translations

Every language

verb agitate rapidly

Español	batir, agitar
中文	攪 /搅 jiǎo
हिन्दी	मथना mathnā
Português	agitar, bater
Français	baratter
Deutsch	durchschütteln, aufwühlen
Italiano	frullare, sbattere, ribollire, spumeggiare, zangolare
Română	bate
Русский	взбива́ть vzbivátʹ, взбить vzbitʹ, взба́лтывать vzbáltyvatʹ, взболта́ть vzboltátʹ, сбива́ть sbivátʹ, сбить sbitʹ
עברית	לערבל le'arbel

verb figuratively: produce excessive motion

中文	翻騰 /翻腾 fānténg
Français	agiter
Deutsch	wusseln, rütteln, wühlen
Русский	мета́ться metátʹsja

verb tumble

Français	agiter
Deutsch	durchschütteln, aufwühlen
Italiano	spumeggiare, frullare, ribollire

noun vessel for churning

Español	mantequera, lechera
日本語	撹乳器 kakuniyūki
中文	攪乳器 /搅乳器 jiǎorǔqì
हिन्दी	मथनी mathnī
Português	batedeira
Français	baratte
Deutsch	Rührtrommel, Butterfass, Butterfaß, Butterfertiger, Kerne
Italiano	zangola
Ελληνικά	μπουτινέλο boutinélo, δουρβάνι dourváni
Română	putinei
Русский	маслобо́йка maslobójka
العربية	مَخَاضَة maḵāḍa
עברית	נטישה

noun time when customer switches provider

Русский	отто́к абоне́нтов ottók abonéntov

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MLA

"churn." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/churn. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

churn. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/churn

Chicago

"churn." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/churn.

BibTeX

@misc{churn_2026,
  title = {churn},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/churn},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}