fen

See also fēn, fén, fěn, and fèn

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

Old English fenn, from Proto-Germanic *fanją (cf. West Frisian fean, Dutch veen, Norwegian fen), from Proto-Indo-European *pen ‘bog, mire’ (cf. Middle Irish en ‘water’, enach ‘swamp’, Old Prussian pannean ‘peat-bog’, Sanskrit pánkas ‘marsh, mud’).

Pronunciation

• IPA: fɛn
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

fen (plural fens)

1. A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline.
   • 1842, The Slave in the Dismal Swamp, from Poems on Slavery by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

     In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp / The hunted Negro lay; [...]

Derived terms

• fenlike
• fennish

Translations

type of wetland

• Bulgarian: мочурище (bg) (močurište) n
• Finnish: letto (fi)
• Persian: لشاب (fa) (lešâb)

• Russian: болото (ru) (bolóto) n
• Scottish Gaelic: boglach (gd) f

See also

• bog
• everglade
• marsh
• swamp
• wetland

Etymology 2

From fan, by analogy with men as the plural of man

Noun

fen pl (singular: fan)

1. A plural form of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.

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Catalan

Verb

fen

1. Third-person singular present indicative form of fendre.
2. Second-person singular imperative form of fendre.

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Dalmatian

Etymology

Compare Italian fino.

Adjective

fen (feminine faina)

1. fine
2. subtle
3. pure

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɛn/
• Hyphenation: fen

Verb

fen

1. to sharpen

Derived terms

• fenyeget

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Lojban

Rafsi

fen

1. rafsi of fenso.

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Mandarin

Romanization

fen

1. Nonstandard spelling of fēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of fén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of fěn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of fèn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Föhn

Noun

fȇn m (Cyrillic spelling фен)

1. hair dryer
2. (meteorology) foehn

Declension

    declension of fen

	singular	plural
nominative	fen	fenovi
genitive	fena	fenova
dative	fenu	fenovima
accusative	fen	fenove
vocative	fene	fenovi
locative	fenu	fenovima
instrumental	fenom	fenovima

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Swedish

Noun

fen

1. definite singular of fe

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Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic فن (fann).

Noun

fen

1. science

Synonyms

• ilim, bilim