Attern

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Venomous; poisonous. UK, dialectal
  2. 2
    Cruel; fierce; ill-natured. UK, dialectal

Etymology

From Middle English attern, from Old English ǣtren (“poisoned, poisonous, venomous”), from Proto-West Germanic *aittrīn (“poisonous”). Equivalent to atter + -en.

Related phrases

attern-temperill natured

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.