Meanings
intern1
plural interns · alternative interne
- A person who is interned, forcibly or voluntarily.
present singular third person interns · participle present interning · participle past interned · past interned · alternative interne
- transitiveTo imprison somebody, usually without trial.
The US government interned thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
2 more examples
That description was of a camp at the Tanforan Racetrack near San Francisco, one of several centers in California where Japanese and Japanese-American residents (Issei and Nisei) were held before being interned in areas remote from the West Coast.
1989 October 15, Vivien Raynor, “Interned Artists, Devoid of Grievance”, in The New York Times, →ISSNCuba could take pride in its health system. It could, that is, if it weren't for the way it treats those who test positive [for HIV], whether sick or not, interning them in an isolation that has no medical justification, that is against all scientific direction and is a frontal assault on all human rights.
1989 December 10, Herbert Daniel, “An Open Letter To Fidel Castro”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 5- transitiveespecially a neutral stateTo confine or hold (foreign military personnel who stray into the state's territory) within prescribed limits during wartime.
The Swiss government interned the Italian soldiers who had strayed onto Swiss territory.
1 more example
The same day, 354 British and Australian prisoners who had been interned in north Korea arrived by rail at Inch'on after arrangements had been made with the Russian commander at P'yongyang and were embarked for the Philippines.
1947 August, Duncan Sinclair, “The Occupation of Korea – Operations and Accomplishments”, in Military Review, volume XXVII, number 5, page 54, columns 1–2
- transitivecomputingTo internalize.
Strings are automatically interned if they are assigned to a literal string within code.
2004, Mark Schmidt, Simon Robinson, Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2003 Developer's Cookbook, page 81
comparative more intern · superlative most intern · alternative interne
- archaicInternal.
Man was made after Gods image, which must be understood of the intern graces of the Soule
1640, I. H. [i.e., James Howell], ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]. Dodona’s Grove, or, The Vocall Forrest, London: […] T[homas] B[adger] for H. Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], →OCLC
intern2
plural interns · alternative interne
- A student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field.
Students know that working as an intern can provide contacts and all-important experience in their chosen fields. And last year, 26 percent of graduates hired by companies had worked as interns, compared with 9 percent the year before.
1994 November 6, William Goss, “Interning For Pleasure And Profit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
present singular third person interns · participle present interning · participle past interned · past interned · alternative interne
- intransitiveTo work as an intern, usually with little or no pay or other legal prerogatives of employment, and for the purpose of furthering a program of education.
I'll be interning at Universal Studios this summer.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan advanced student or graduate in medicine gaining supervised practical experience
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
intern · noun, verb, adjective
- Latininternus“within, internal”
- Frenchinterner
- Englishintern
From French interner, from interne (“inner, internal”), from Latin internus (“within, internal”), compare Etymology 2.
Full word history & related roots →intern · noun, verb
- Latininternus“within, internal”
- Frenchinterne“inner, internal”
- Englishintern
From French interne (“inner, internal”), from Latin internus (“within, internal”), from inter (“between”); compare Etymology 1.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُتَدَرِّب
- مُتَدَرِّب (mutadarrib)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Bulgarian интерни́рам
- интерни́рам (interníram)to imprison (transitive)
Catalan becari, becària
- becaristudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- becàriastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- internmedical trainee working in a hospital
- internamedical trainee working in a hospital
Chinese Mandarin 實習生 /实习生
- 實習生 /实习生 (shíxíshēng)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Czech stážista
- stážistastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Danish praktikant, være i praktik
- praktikantstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- være i praktikto work as an intern
- komme i praktikto work as an intern
Dutch interneren, stagiair
- internerento imprison (transitive)
- stagiairstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Esperanto staĝanto
- staĝantostudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Finnish internoida, työharjoittelija
- internoidato imprison (transitive)
- työharjoittelijastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- harjoittelijastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- amanuenssimedical trainee working in a hospital
- hoitoharjoittelijamedical trainee working in a hospital
- lääkäriharjoittelijamedical trainee working in a hospital
- työharjoitellato work as an intern
- harjoitellato work as an intern
French interner, stagiaire
- internerto imprison (transitive)
- stagiairestudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- interne (des hôpitaux)medical trainee working in a hospital
German internieren, Praktikant
- internierento imprison (transitive)
- Praktikantstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- Praktikantinstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Hungarian gyakornok
- gyakornokstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Irish imtheorannaigh
- imtheorannaighto imprison (transitive)
Italian internare, stagista
- internareto imprison (transitive)
- stagistastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Japanese 抑留する, 拘留する
- 抑留する (yokuryū suru)to imprison (transitive)
- 拘留する (kōryū suru)to imprison (transitive)
- 実習生 (jisshūsei)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- インターン (intān)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- インターン (intān)medical trainee working in a hospital
- インターンとして働く (intān to shite hataraku)to work as an intern
Korean 인턴, 실습생
- 인턴 (inteon)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- 실습생 (silseupsaeng)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Norwegian praktikant
- praktikantstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Persian کارآموز, انترن
- کارآموز (kâr-âmuz)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- انترن (antern)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- کارورز (kâr-varz)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- انترن (antern)medical trainee working in a hospital
Polish internować, stażysta
- internowaćto imprison (transitive)
- stażystastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- stażystkastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Portuguese estagiário, estagiária
- estagiáriostudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- estagiáriastudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- internomedical trainee working in a hospital
- estagiarto work as an intern
Russian интерни́ровать, стажёр
- интерни́ровать (intɛrnírovatʹ)to imprison (transitive)
- стажёр (stažór)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- стажёрка (stažórka)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- практика́нт (praktikánt)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- практика́нтка (praktikántka)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- инте́рн (intɛ́rn)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- проходи́ть пра́ктику/стажиро́вку (proxodítʹ práktiku/stažiróvku)to work as an intern
- пройти́ пра́ктику/стажиро́вку (projtí práktiku/stažiróvku)to work as an intern
Spanish pasante, practicante
- pasantestudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- practicantestudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- persona en prácticasstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- internostudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- becariostudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- practicandostudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- pasanteto work as an intern
Swedish internera, praktikant
- internerato imprison (transitive)
- praktikantstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- praktiserato work as an intern
Thai ผู้ฝึกงาน
- ผู้ฝึกงาน (pûu-fʉ̀k-ngaan)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Turkish stajyer, intörn
- stajyerstudent or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- intörnmedical trainee working in a hospital
Yiddish פּראַקטיקאַנט, פּראַקטיקאַנטקע
- פּראַקטיקאַנט (praktikant)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
- פּראַקטיקאַנטקע (praktikantke)student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
intern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intern
“intern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intern. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “intern,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intern.
Source: intern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.