Stein

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /staɪn/

Definitions

1. A type of drinking vessel, often made of stoneware or ceramic, used traditionally for serving beer or other beverages
2. A robust mug, typically with a hinged lid, designed for consuming beer and often featuring decorative designs
3. A tankard or mug characterized by its handle and capacity to hold significant amounts, commonly associated with German beer culture

Etymology: The German word "Stein" simply means "stone," but as a drinking vessel it refers to a pot made of stoneware, the hard, fired clay that German potters perfected for holding liquids. The name took the material for the object, so a beer mug could be called by the same word as the rock it was made from. The English word is a doublet of "stone," meaning the two forms descend from a common ancestor but took different paths into the language. That ancestry runs deep. Old English had "stǣna," a stone jug or a pot of stone or earth, so English once had a close relative of this vessel sense of the word before it lost it. German kept the word alive in its regional speech and applied it to the stoneware jugs commonly used for beer. The word probably developed as a shortening of "Steingut" (stoneware) or "Steinkrug" (stone pitcher), with the material name standing in for the whole object.

Synonyms: mug, tankard