Sty

Pronunciation

• IPA: /staɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

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 Steige ("hen-coop"), Danish sti ("enclosure for swine, sheep, hens, etc."), Swedish stia ("sty for pigs, geese, etc."), Norwegian sti ("flock of sheep"), Icelandic stía ("a kennel").

Full definition of sty

Noun

1. A pen or enclosure for swine.
2. (figurative) A messy, dirty or debauched place.
• MiltonTo roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.

Synonyms

• (enclosure for swine) pig pen, pigsty
• (messy or dirty place) hovel, pigsty

Verb

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

From Middle English stien, stiȝen, from Old English stīġan ("to go; ascend, mount"), from Proto-Germanic *stīganą, from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-. Cognate with Dutch stijgen, German steigen, Swedish stiga, Old Norse stíga.

Alternative forms

• stee, stie

Verb

1. (obsolete) To ascend, rise up, climb. 9th-17th c.
• 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Isaiah LIII:And he schal stie as a ȝerde bifor him, and as a roote fro þirsti lond.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xi:The beast impatient of his smarting wound,
  And of so fierce and forcible despight,
  Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground ....

Derived terms

• styan
• stirrup

Noun

1. (British, dialectal) A ladder.

Probably a Back-formation from {{3}}, mistaken for "sty-on-eye" but correctly from Middle English styany, composed of styan () + y ("eye").

Alternative forms

• stye

Noun

1. (disease) An inflammation of the eyelid.