sty
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sty¹
- /staɪ/
Sounds like stye · Rhymes with -aɪ
Where it comes from
From Middle English sty, from Old English stī, stiġ (“sty, pen, a wooden enclosure; hall”, chiefly in compounds), from Proto-West Germanic *stī, 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 sties · stye
verb sties · stying · stied · stye
- To place in, or as if in, a sty. and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o' the island
- To live in a sty, or any messy or dirty place.
sty²
- /staɪ/
Sounds like stye · Rhymes with -aɪ
Where it comes from
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 sties · stying · stied · stee · stie
- To ascend, rise up, climb. The beast impatient of his smarting wound, / And of so fierce and forcible despight, / Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground [...].
noun sties
- A ladder.
sty³
- /staɪ/
Sounds like stye · Rhymes with -aɪ
Where it comes from
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 sties · stye
- An inflammation of the eyelid.
Translations
Talk about this word "sty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sty. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sty. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sty "sty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sty.Cite this
@misc{sty_2026,
title = {sty},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sty},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
