cistern

American  

[sis-tern] / ˈsɪs tərn /

noun

• cisterns
  plural

1. a reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.

2. Anatomy. a reservoir or receptacle of some natural fluid of the body.

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cistern British  

/ ˈsɪstən /

noun

1. a tank for the storage of water, esp on or within the roof of a house or connected to a WC

2. an underground reservoir for the storage of a liquid, esp rainwater

3. anatomy another name for cisterna

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cisternal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cisterns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cistern

1250–1300; Middle English cistern ( e ) < Latin cisterna, equivalent to cist ( a ) ( see cist ¹) + -erna noun suffix

Explanation

A cistern is an underground tank that holds water. A long time ago, cistern water was used for drinking, but nowadays developed parts of the world mainly use it for watering plants and flushing toilets. The oldest cisterns that we know of were built in the Middle East about 12,000 years ago, which is around when farming was invented. That's no coincidence. It would be tough to collect enough water to grow barley and wheat without storing the water in something, especially in a place as dry as the Middle East.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cistern cisterns

A large bear and her three cubs fell into the concrete cistern in Marshall Canyon County Park near the Claremont Wilderness Park’s 5-Mile Loop Trail, where they were rescued late Saturday night, the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

Coffee gives the example of a basketball court in the Netherlands that also serves as a giant storm drain, with seating around the edges that channels rainwater down into a cistern under the court.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

Whether the plumber directly caused the problem, failed to identify an underlying issue, or repaired one faulty component only for another to reveal itself, the result is the same: the cistern does not function properly.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026

She’s taken, perversely, with John the Baptist, imprisoned in a cistern and prophesying doom for the decadent, Godless heathens, Salome in particular.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026

Why do I recall, instead of the odor of seed bursting in springtime, only the yellow contents of the cistern spread over the lawn's dead grass?

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

School children have outings to waterworks to understand how precious the resource is, and households have embraced water-saving devices for shower heads and toilet cisterns.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

They plan to put plants into the built-in containers above their backyard cisterns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

The utility recently installed water hookups for one secluded mountaintop community that had been relying on cisterns and a truck hauling creek water—a project Brewster said took six years to accumulate enough government money for.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

For at long intervals on that highway cisterns had been built for the use of troops sent in haste through the waterless regions.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien