postern.
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious.
Meaning & usage
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious.
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious. A hidden or secret exit or tunnel of a fortification such as a castle, city wall, or fort.
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious. Any way in or out of a place, especially a hidden one; an entrance or exit.
A back door or gate, side entrance, or other entrance distinct from the main one, especially one that is private or not obvious. An underground passage communicating between a main ditch and a parade, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
A means of escape; an escape route.
A dishonourable or unconventional means of doing something.
The back or rear part of a thing.
The buttocks of a person; behind, posterior.
Where this word comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English postern, posterne (“side door or gate; small entranceway; hidden or secret door or passage”), from Late Latin posterna, and from its likely etymon Anglo-Norman posterne and Old French posterne (“hidden exit from a fortified building; back door; small door”) (modern French poterne), a variant of posterle (“back door or passage”) (although this is attested later), possibly also influenced by Latin externus (“external, outward”) and internus (“internal, inward”). Posterle is from Late Latin posterla, posterula (“(small) back door, gate, or way”), from Latin posterus (“coming after, later, next”) (from post (“after; behind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards; at, by”)) + -ula (suffix denoting an instrument). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
Situated at the rear; posterior.
Lower in quality or status; inferior, lesser.
Clandestine, hidden, secret; also, dishonourable, underhand.
Where this word comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English postern, posterne (“side door or gate; small entranceway; hidden or secret door or passage”), from Late Latin posterna, and from its likely etymon Anglo-Norman posterne and Old French posterne (“hidden exit from a fortified building; back door; small door”) (modern French poterne), a variant of posterle (“back door or passage”) (although this is attested later), possibly also influenced by Latin externus (“external, outward”) and internus (“internal, inward”). Posterle is from Late Latin posterla, posterula (“(small) back door, gate, or way”), from Latin posterus (“coming after, later, next”) (from post (“after; behind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards; at, by”)) + -ula (suffix denoting an instrument). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.