Sterno

¹ American  

[stur-noh] / ˈstɜr noʊ /

Trademark.

1. flammable hydrocarbon jelly packaged in a small can for use as a portable heat source for cooking.

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sterno- ² American  

1. a combining form representing sternum in compound words.

   sternocostal.

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Example Sentences

She also instantly knows that the mother who burnt her hand on a Sterno is unhoused.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 5, 2025

“So I did this,” he said, showcasing his clever, MacGyver-style street kitchen of aluminum foil tents, tables, Sterno and pans.

From Washington Post • Dec. 24, 2020

They inhabited only three of the house’s twenty-eight rooms, and whatever they had for dinner seems to have been cooked over a can of Sterno, on Big Edie’s nightstand.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 8, 2014

I would walk around with a metal box that had a Sterno in the bottom to keep the hot dogs, and my abdomen, warm.

From Forbes • Nov. 15, 2014

"I hate to say it after the way Mother’s been slaving over a hot Sterno can,” said Ernestine, "but we’re starving.”

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey