cistern

English

WOTD – 17 August 2008

A rainwater cistern.

A wine cistern.

Etymology

From Middle English cisterne, from Old French cisterne (Modern French citerne) from Latin cisterna, from cista (“box”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “box”). Doublet of cisterna.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tɚn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)n

Noun

cistern (plural cisterns)

2. A reservoir or tank for holding water, especially for catching and holding rainwater for later use.
   • 1913, A.C. Cotter, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wells in Scripture",

     Their extreme necessity is attested by the countless number of old, unused cisterns with which the Holy Land is literally honeycombed.

   • 1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 211:

     On a broad ledge near the top, we found a stone cabin. Higher up was a cistern and a few more terraces.

   • 2001, Philip J. King, Lawrence E. Stager, chapter 3, in Life in Biblical Israel, →ISBN, page 126:

     Cisterns (bôr, bō'r), mentioned frequently in the Bible, are artificial reservoirs, usually cut into bedrock, for collecting and conserving rain runoff from roofs and courtyards.

3. In a flush toilet, the container in which the water used for flushing is held; a toilet tank.
   • 2003, Allan Windust, chapter 9, in Waterwise House & Garden: a Guide for Sustainable Living, →ISBN, page 36:

     It is possible to connect your tank to your toilet cistern and/or garden, so that even if the water is not drinkable it still can be used productively to make major water savings.

4. A shallow, typically oval, vessel made of porcelain, pottery, or glass.
5. The receptacle that holds the fuel in an oil lamp.
   • 1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 22:

     By next winter he was spending every evening poring over the work of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné on the French Reformation by the light of a little oil lamp, with a tiny cistern the size of an orange and no chimney[.]

6. (Biology) A cisterna.
7. The vessel surrounding the condenser in a steam engine.

Derived terms

• cerebromedullary cistern
• cisternal
• cisterned
• cisternful
• cisternless
• cisternography
• hog cistern
• intracistern

 

Translations

reservoir for holding water

• Albanian: cisternë (sq) f, hauz (sq) m, bot (sq) m
• Arabic: صِهْرِيج m (ṣihrīj), فِنْطَاس m (finṭās), حَوْض m (ḥawḍ)
• Armenian: ցիստերն (cʻistern)
• Azerbaijani: sistern
• Belarusian: цыстэ́рна f (cystérna), бак m (bak), рэзервуа́р m (rezjervuár), рэзэрвуа́р m (rezervuár)
• Bulgarian: резервоа́р (bg) m (rezervoár), цисте́рна f (cistérna)
• Burmese: ရေလှောင်ကန် (my) (rehlaungkan)
• Catalan: cisterna (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水槽 (zh) (shuǐcáo)

• Czech: cisterna (cs) f
• Dalmatian: cistierna f
• Danish: cisterne (da) c
• Dutch: cisterne (nl) f, waterreservoir (nl) n, regenput (nl) m, regenwaterput (nl) m, regenbak (nl) m, waterkelder (nl) m
• Esperanto: akvujo, cisterno
• Estonian: tsistern
• Finnish: vesisäiliö, sadevesisäiliö
• French: citerne (fr) f

  Middle French: cisterne f

• Friulian: cistierne f
• Galician: canfurna f, cisterna f, alxube (gl) m, alxibe (gl) m
• Georgian: ცისტერნა (ka) (cisṭerna)
• German: Zisterne (de) f
• Greek: δεξαμενή (el) f (dexamení), στέρνα (el) f (stérna)

  Ancient: δεξαμενή f (dexamenḗ), λάκκος m (lákkos), ἔλυτρον n (élutron)

• Gujarati: ટાંકી f (ṭā̃kī), તળાવ n (taḷāv)
• Hebrew: גֵּב (he) m (gev)
• Hindi: टंकी (hi) f (ṭaṅkī), जलाशय (hi) m (jalāśay), हौज़ m (hauz)
• Hungarian: ciszterna (hu), víztároló (hu)
• Ido: aquuyo (io)
• Indonesian: perigi (id)
• Irish: sistéal m
• Istriot: zustierna f
• Italian: cisterna (it) f
• Japanese: 水槽 (ja) (すいそう, suisō), 貯水槽 (ちょすいそう, chosuisō), タンク (ja) (tanku)
• Kazakh: шанаш (şanaş), цистерна (sisterna)
• Korean: 탱크 (ko) (taengkeu), 수조(水槽) (ko) (sujo)
• Kyrgyz: цистерна (ky) (tsisterna)
• Latin: cisterna f, lacus (la) m
• Latvian: cisterna f
• Lithuanian: cisterna f
• Macedonian: цистерна f (cisterna)
• Maori: kurawai
• Middle English: cisterne
• Ngazidja Comorian: isima class 7/8
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f

  Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f

• Persian: سیسترن (sistern), حوض (fa) (howz)
• Polish: cysterna (pl) f
• Portuguese: cisterna (pt) f
• Romanian: cisternă (ro) f
• Russian: цисте́рна (ru) f (cistɛ́rna), бак (ru) m (bak), резервуа́р (ru) m (rezervuár)
• Sardinian: chisterra f, cisterra, gisterra
• Scots: cistren
• Scottish Gaelic: amar m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цѝсте̄рна f

  Roman: cìstērna (sh) f

• Sicilian: jisterna (scn) f, sterna f
• Slovak: cisterna f, rezervoár m
• Slovene: cisterna (sl) f
• Spanish: aljibe (es) m, cisterna (es) f
• Swedish: cistern (sv) c
• Tajik: систерн (sistern), ҳавз (havz)
• Thai: ถังน้ำ, แท็งก์น้ำ, ถังเก็บน้ำ
• Tibetan: ཆུ་སྒྲོམ (chu sgrom)
• Tigrinya: ጋው (ti) (gaw)
• Turkish: sarnıç (tr)
• Ukrainian: цисте́рна f (cystérna), бак (uk) m (bak), резервуа́р m (rezervuár)
• Urdu: حَوضْ (ur) m (hauz)
• Uzbek: sisterna (uz)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: seston m or f, dyfrgist f

flush toilet's container

• Bulgarian: каза́нче n (kazánče)
• Dutch: stortbak (nl) m
• Finnish: säiliö (fi), vesisäiliö
• French: chasse d’eau (fr) f
• German: Spülkasten (de) m
• Greek: καζανάκι (el) n (kazanáki)
• Hungarian: víztartály (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sisterne m or f, cisterne m or f

  Nynorsk: sisterne f, cisterne f

• Russian: бачо́к (ru) m (bačók)
• Spanish: cisterna (es) f

cisterna — see cisterna

Anagrams

• cinters, cretins, crinets, increst

Swedish

Noun

cistern c

1. cistern, tank

Declension

Declension of cistern

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	cistern	cisterns
	definite	cisternen	cisternens
plural	indefinite	cisterner	cisterners
	definite	cisternerna	cisternernas