English Explanatory Dictionary

fenny

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
  2. Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen.
  3. Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy.
noun
  1. Alternative form of fennie (“fenestration”).
name
  1. A female given name, short for Fenella.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɛni/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fenny.wav

Word forms

fenny more fenny most fenny fennies

Etymology

From Middle English fenny, fenni (“marshy, muddy; of meat: putrid, rotten; of a person: sinful, vile”), from Old English fenniġ (“dirty; marshy, muddy, fenny”), from fen, fenn (“marsh, fen; mud”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist, wet; mud; swamp; water”)) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as fen + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).

Synonyms

boggy fenlike fennish quaggy uliginous boggish fenny marish marshy miry moorish moory morassy paludal paludine paludinous palustral palustrine palustrous poachy queachy sloughy slumpy spewy swaly swampish swampy syrtic wiery

Related words

Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Fenny Bridges

Derived words

Fenny Bridges Fenny Compton Fenny Stratford Sutton Veny
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