sterretjie, noun

/ˈsterəki/, /ˈstɛrəki/
Forms:
Formerly also sterrentjie, sterrethe.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, ‘little star’, ster star + diminutive suffix -ie.
1. Any of several species of flowering plant of the Amaryllidaceae.
[1810 G. Barrington Acct of Voy. 341The soil here is further distinguished, by the star-flower with its regular radiated corolla.]
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 77Sterretje. Several kinds of flowers, particularly species of Curculigo as C. plicata, and Hypoxis, as H. stellata.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 438Sterretjie, A general term for a number of species of Amaryllidaceae with cormous rootstocks, grasslike leaves and the perianth segments arranged in a star-like manner.
1984 A. Wannenburgh Natural Wonder of Sn Afr. 122Like many other members of the Amaryllidaceae family, these cormous plants with grass-like leaves and six-petalled pink flowers are known as sterretjies, ‘little stars’.
2. The sea-gull Larus hartlaubii of the Laridae, common on the Western Cape and Namibian coasts.
Note:
In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts' Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘Hartlaub’s gull’ is used for this species.
1955 C. Horne Fisherman’s Eldorado 12Sterrentjies and malagas, their immaculate plumage shining, dived for their prey, or rested in great flocks, gorged and exhausted.
1971 R. Raven-Hart Cape G.H. 1652–1702 133Those which are called Starling-Gulls (‘Stahr-Moebigen’, perhaps Sterretje) are smaller.
1977 E. Prov. Herald 17 Nov. 15Often when the sterretjies are flitting over the surface there are penguins in the area...But I know some men who ignore sterretjies (terns). They claim that sterretjies working do not necessarily mean anything.
1982 S. Afr. Digest 8 Jan. 24Up to a few years ago the Hartlaub’s gull, or sterretjie as it is better known, bred in seclusion on Robben Island. But as more and more open fill refuse dumps sprang up around the city the gull’s food supply..increased, and so did their numbers.
1983 E. Prov. Herald 13 Jan. 13There are two schools of thought among deep sea anglers. One believes that terns (sterretjies) are the best guides to feeding tunny. The other school believes that working gannets (malgas) are the surer indication.
1987 R. Naysmith in Ski Scene Mar.–Apr. 13These shoals of summer game fish have been relatively easy to find with the ‘sterretjies’ (terns) and Malgas gulls ever present to feed on a rising bait shoal.
3. The geometric tortoise, Psammobates geometricus.
1985 [see suurpootjie].
1989 E. Baard in Afr. Wildlife Vol.43 No.4, 179Call it what you will — geometric tortoise, suurpootjie, kransie, sterretjie — all of these names are used to refer to one of the world’s rarest tortoise species, Psammobates geometricus.
Any of several species of flowering plant of the Amaryllidaceae.
The sea-gull Larus hartlaubii of the Laridae, common on the Western Cape and Namibian coasts.
The geometric tortoise, Psammobates geometricus.
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Afrikaans
sterloop, nounn.stertriem, nounn.
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