extern

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛkˌstɜː(ɹ)n/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle French externe or its etymon Latin externus.

Noun

extern (plural externs)

1. A person affiliated with an institution in a lesser capacity, for example, as a non-resident or as a part-time affiliate.
   1. A day-scholar.
2. Outward form or part; exterior.

Adjective

extern

1. (obsolete, rare) External; outward; not inherent
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so, for my particular end, / For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In complement extern, 'tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at.

   • 1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter XIV, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Roycroft for Thomas Dicas […], →OCLC, page 214:

     For if the ſoul of man vvere emancipated by virtue, it vvould not need any regulation or monition, beſides that of its invvard Tribunal; vvhich becauſe ſin does uſurp upon, has ſome relief from thoſe extern adjuments.

Derived terms

• externment

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “extern”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• William Shakespeare (1603), The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice, Penguin Books, published 2001

Etymology 2

Short for external; used as a keyword in these programming languages.

Noun

extern (plural externs)

1. (programming) In the C and C++ programming languages, a variable that can be separately declared in many places, all of them referring to the same variable.
   • 1995, Martin L. Rinehart, Learn C++ Today!, page 552:

     Finally, get rid of the two function declarations and two externs that we added at the top of TEFIL.CPP so that we could support file_open().

   • 2018, Brian Beuken, The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming:

     This is probably the big thing with C++, the more you can avoid global concepts and nasty externs the better, an object/class should be totally self-contained.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin externus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əksˈtɛrn]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [eksˈtɛɾn]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

extern (feminine externa, masculine plural externs, feminine plural externes)

1. external

   Antonym: intern

2. inessential

   Synonym: inessencial

   Antonyms: intern, essencial

3. (education) off-campus (pertaining to a student who is at a school only during classes)

   Antonym: intern

4. (geology) Pertaining to foreland, the zone where material eroded from a mountain chain is deposited

Hyponyms

• (external): aliè (“external to a social group”)

Derived terms

• externament

See also

• avantpaís (“foreland”)

Noun

extern m (plural externs, feminine externa, feminine plural externes)

1. (education) off-campus student

   Antonym: intern

Further reading

• “extern”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “extern”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “extern” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “extern” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French externe, from Latin externus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛksˈtɛrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧tern
• Rhymes: -ɛrn

Adjective

extern (not comparable)

1. external

   Synonym: uitwendig

2. exterior

Declension

Declension of extern
uninflected	extern
inflected	externe
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		extern
indefinite	m./f. sing.	externe
	n. sing.	extern
	plural	externe
definite		externe
partitive		externs

German

Etymology

From Latin externus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛksˈtɛʁn/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁn
• Hyphenation: ex‧tern

Adjective

extern (strong nominative masculine singular externer, not comparable)

1. external

Declension

Positive forms of extern (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist extern	sie ist extern	es ist extern	sie sind extern
strong declension (without article)	nominative	externer	externe	externes	externe
	genitive	externen	externer	externen	externer
	dative	externem	externer	externem	externen
	accusative	externen	externe	externes	externe
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der externe	die externe	das externe	die externen
	genitive	des externen	der externen	des externen	der externen
	dative	dem externen	der externen	dem externen	den externen
	accusative	den externen	die externe	das externe	die externen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein externer	eine externe	ein externes	(keine) externen
	genitive	eines externen	einer externen	eines externen	(keiner) externen
	dative	einem externen	einer externen	einem externen	(keinen) externen
	accusative	einen externen	eine externe	ein externes	(keine) externen

Antonyms

• intern

Further reading

• “extern” in Duden online
• “extern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French externe, from Latin externus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [eksˈtern]

Adjective

extern m or n (feminine singular externă, masculine plural externi, feminine/neuter plural externe)

1. external

   Antonym: intern

Declension

Declension of extern

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	extern		externă		externi	externe
	definite	externul		externa		externii	externele
genitive- dative	indefinite	extern		externe		externi	externe
	definite	externului		externei		externilor	externelor

Further reading

• “extern”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Swedish

Adjective

extern

1. external

Declension

Inflection of extern

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	extern	mer extern	mest extern
neuter singular	externt	mer externt	mest externt
plural	externa	mer externa	mest externa
masculine plural2	externe	mer externa	mest externa
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	externe	mer externe	mest externe
all	externa	mer externa	mest externa

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.