English Explanatory Dictionary

fern

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of a group of some twenty thousand species of vascular plants classified in the division Pteridophyta that lack seeds and reproduce by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations.
name
  1. A female given name.
  2. A topographic surname.

Pronunciation

/fɜːn/ /fɝn/ en-us-fern.ogg [fɘːn] /fɛːrn/ /fɛrn/ /fɝːn/

Word forms

fern ferns

Etymology

From Middle English fern, from Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn, from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing; fern, leaf”), from *p(t)erH- (“fern”). Cognate with Scots fairn (“fern”), West Frisian fear (“fern”), Dutch varen (“fern”), German Farn, Farm (“fern”), Luxembourgish Far (“fern”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀 (par^əna), Ashkun pār (“leaf”), Kamkata-viri por, přor, Prasuni parëg (“leaf”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “wing”).

Synonyms

Filicophyta

Related words

bracken

Derived words

adder's fern air fern Alice's fern artillery fern asparagus fern} autumn fern ball fern bamboo fern Barnsley fern basket fern bead fern beech fern bird's-nest fern bladder fern Boston fern buckler fern bulblet fern chain fern Christmas fern cinnamon fern climbing fern cloak fern coral fern deer fern duckweed fern elephant fern fern ally fernane fern bar Fern Bay fernbird fernbrake fern bush fern cake Ferndale ferndom ferned fernene fernery Fern Gully Fern Hill fern house ferning fernland fern-leaf tree fernless fernlike fernowl fern pine fernroot fernseed fern seed fernshaw Fernside fern tree ferny filmy fern fragile fern giant fern grape fern
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