sty
/stai/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A pen for swine: A small enclosure or building where pigs are kept.
- An infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid: A small, painful, inflamed swelling on the edge of the eyelid, also called a stye.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Pig enclosure):
- The farmer cleaned the sty before introducing the new piglets.
- The old sty at the back of the property was falling apart.
- Noun (Eye infection):
- She had a painful sty on her lower eyelid.
- Applying a warm compress can help a sty heal faster.
Advanced Usage
- "To live in a sty": Used figuratively to describe living in a very dirty, messy, or untidy place.
- After the party, the dorm room looked like a sty.
- "Sty of iniquity": An archaic or literary phrase for a place of extreme vice or moral corruption.
- The novel described the city's slums as a sty of iniquity.
Variants and Related Words
- Stye: An alternative spelling for the eye infection.
- The doctor diagnosed it as a stye.
- Pigsty: A more common term for a pig enclosure, often used interchangeably with .
- The children were fascinated by the muddy pigsty.
Synonyms
- For pig enclosure: Pigpen, hog pen, piggery.
- For eye infection: Hordeolum (medical term).
Different Meanings
- The two primary meanings (animal enclosure and eye infection) are homographs (spelled the same) but are etymologically distinct words. Context is crucial for understanding.
Idioms and Phrases
- "Like a pig in a sty": Used to describe someone who is very content in a messy or dirty environment.
- He's happy with all that clutter—like a pig in a sty.
Noun
- a pen for swine
- an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid