intern

• interne (archaic)

From French interner, from interne (“inner, internal”), from Latin internus (“within, internal”), compare Etymology 2.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɝn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɜːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

intern (plural interns)

1. A person who is interned, forcibly or voluntarily.

intern (third-person singular simple present interns, present participle interning, simple past and past participle interned)

1. (transitive) To imprison somebody, usually without trial.

   The US government interned thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

   • 1989 October 15, Vivien Raynor, “Interned Artists, Devoid of Grievance”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 August 2025:

     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 December 10, Herbert Daniel, “An Open Letter To Fidel Castro”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 5:

     Cuba 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.

   1. (of a state, especially a neutral state) To 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.

      • 1947 August, Duncan Sinclair, “The Occupation of Korea – Operations and Accomplishments”, in Military Review, volume XXVII, number 5, page 54, columns 1–2:

        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.

2. (transitive, programming) To internalize.
   • 2004, Mark Schmidt, Simon Robinson, Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2003 Developer's Cookbook, page 81:

     Strings are automatically interned if they are assigned to a literal string within code.

intern (comparative more intern, superlative most intern)

1. (archaic) Internal.
   • 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:

     Man was made after Gods image, which must be understood of the intern graces of the Soule

From French interne (“inner, internal”), from Latin internus (“within, internal”), from inter (“between”); compare Etymology 1.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɝn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɜːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

intern (plural interns)

1. A student or recent graduate who works in order to gain experience in their chosen field.
   • 1994 November 6, William Goss, “Interning For Pleasure And Profit”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 August 2025:

     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.

2. A medical student or recent graduate working in a hospital as a final part of medical training.

• resident
• trainee

intern (third-person singular simple present interns, present participle interning, simple past and past participle interned)

1. (intransitive) To 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.

• netrin, tinner

Learned borrowing from Latin internus.

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

intern (feminine interna, masculine plural interns, feminine plural internes)

1. internal

   Antonym: extern

• internament
• internar

intern m (plural interns, feminine interna, feminine plural internes)

1. (medicine) intern
2. (education) boarder

• “intern”, 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
• “intern”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “intern” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “intern”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From English intern or English internship.

intern (Hong Kong Cantonese, American (1980–))

1. intern (Classifier: 個／个 c)

   不論是NG還是intern，都是非常缺乏面試經驗的 [MSC, trad.]
   不论是NG还是intern，都是非常缺乏面试经验的 [MSC, simp.]

   bùlùn shì NG háishì intern, dōu shì fēicháng quēfá miànshì jīngyàn de [Pinyin]

   Regardless if they are new graduates or intern, they all lack interview experience.

2. internship (Classifier: 份 c)

   三年工作經驗找不到intern [MSC, trad.]
   三年工作经验找不到intern [MSC, simp.]

   sān nián gōngzuò jīngyàn zhǎo bù dào intern [Pinyin]

   Can't find an internship with three-year working experience.

• (intern): 煙腸／烟肠

intern (neuter internt, plural and definite singular attributive interne)

1. internal

Borrowed from French interne (“inner, internal”), or directly from Latin internus (“within, internal”), from inter (“between”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrn

intern (comparative interner, superlative internst)

1. internal, inside of something, of the body etc.

   Synonym: inwendig

   Antonyms: extern, uitwendig

Declension of intern
uninflected	intern
inflected	interne
comparative	interner
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		intern	interner	het internst het internste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	interne	internere	internste
	n. sing.	intern	interner	internste
	plural	interne	internere	internste
definite		interne	internere	internste
partitive		interns	interners	—

From Latin internus.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛʁn/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁn
• Hyphenation: in‧tern

intern (strong nominative masculine singular interner, not comparable)

1. internal

• extern

• Internum
• Internat

• “intern” in Duden online
• “intern”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[3] (in German)

From Dutch intern, from French interne (“inner, internal”), from Latin internus (“within, internal”), from inter (“between”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪntɛr(ə)n]
• Hyphenation: in‧tèrn

intern (comparative lebih intern, superlative paling intern)

1. internal

   Synonym: internal

• interen

• “intern”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

From Latin internus.

intern (neuter singular internt, definite singular and plural interne)

1. internal

• ekstern

From Latin internus.

intern (neuter singular internt, definite singular and plural interne)

1. internal

• ekstern

French interne, Latin internus

• IPA^(key): [inˈtern]

intern m or n (feminine singular internă, masculine plural interni, feminine/neuter plural interne)

1. internal

   Antonym: extern

From Latin internus.

intern (not comparable)

1. internal

   Antonym: extern

intern c

1. a prisoner, an inmate

• fånge
• fängelsekund
• intagen

• internera

• “intern”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “intern”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “intern”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)