Etymology

attern

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Today it means: Venomous; poisonous. Full definition →

Middle English attern ← Old English ǣtren ← Proto-West Germanic *aittrīn
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*aittrīn“poisonous”
  2. Old English · inherited fromǣtren“poisoned, poisonous, venomous”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromattern
  4. English todayattern

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.