quern

[kwurn]

noun

a primitive, hand-operated mill for grinding grain.

Origin of quern

before 950; Middle English; Old English cweorn; akin to Old Norse kvern hand-mill

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for quern

Historical Examples of quern

The grains, blackened like coal, were picked off the floor with the hand and placed in the quern.
The Historical Child
Oscar Chrisman
When dry it is pounded into small pieces mixed with corn, and ground into meal on the hand-mill or quern.
Notes and Queries, Number 229, March 18, 1854
Various
There stood his sisters by the quern, For the high-noon cakes they needs must earn.
Poems by the Way
William Morris
He had only to speak the word, and the quern ground out what he wanted.
Folk Tales Every Child Should Know
Various
"There, you see what has gotten me all this wealth;" and so he made the quern grind all kind of things.
Folk Tales Every Child Should Know
Various

British Dictionary definitions for quern

quern

noun

a stone hand mill for grinding corn

Word Origin for quern

Old English cweorn; related to Old Frisian quern, Old High German kurn, Old Norse kverna, Gothic quairnus millstone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for quern

Old English cweorn "hand-mill, mill," from PIE *gwere-na- "millstone" (cf. Old Norse kvern, Old Frisian quern, Old High German quirn, Gothic quirnus; Sanskrit grava "crushing stone;" Lithuanian girna "millstone," girnos "hand mills;" Old Church Slavonic zrunuvi "mills;" Welsh brevan "hand mill"), suffixed form of root *gwere- "heavy" (see grave (adj.)).