fern

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See also: Fern

English

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A fern.

Etymology

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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 West Frisian fear, Dutch varen, German Farn, Lithuanian spar̃nas, Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀 (parəna), Ashkun pār, Kamkata-viri por, přor, Prasuni parëg, Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fern (plural ferns)

  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.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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German

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Etymology

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From Old High German ferrana.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fern (strong nominative masculine singular ferner, comparative ferner, superlative am fernsten)

  1. remote
  2. far away

Declension

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Derived terms

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Preposition

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fern [with genitive; or with dative]

  1. (higher register) far away from something
    Fern des Landes / dem Land, in dem sie geboren wurde
    Far away from the land in which she was born

Further reading

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Icelandic

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Etymology

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From the root fer-. Compare tvennur, þrennur.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fern

  1. four (used when counting singular nouns, pluralia tantum or groupings (especially pairs) of items, or when the item counted is missing from the sentence or separated by the preposition af (“of”))
    fernir skórfour pairs of shoes
    fernir tónleikarfour concerts (tónleikar is plurale tantum)
    Þetta má gera á fernan hátt. – This can be done in four ways. (háttur cannot be used in its plural form in this sense)
    Það er fernt sem mig vantar. – There are four [things] that I need. (noun omitted)
    Ég vil fá fernt af öllu. – I want four of everything.

Inflection

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Derived terms

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fern (plural ferns)

  1. fern

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: fern
  • Scots: farne, fairn
  • Yola: vearne, fearn

References

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Old Irish

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Etymology

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From Proto-Celtic *wernā (compare Welsh gwern). Cognate with Old Armenian գերան (geran).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fern f (genitive fernae, nominative plural ferna)

  1. alder
  2. shield (made of alder wood)
  3. pole, stake
  4. the letter F

Inflection

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Feminine ā-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative fernL feirnL fernaH
Vocative fernL feirnL fernaH
Accusative feirnN feirnL fernaH
Genitive fernaeH fernL fernN
Dative feirnL fernaib fernaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

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Mutation

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Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
fern ḟern fern
pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Saxon

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Noun

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fern m

  1. Alternative form of infern