fern

See also: Fern

English

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 West Frisian fear, Dutch varen, German Farn, Lithuanian spar̃nas, Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀 (par^əna), Ashkun pā́r, Kamkata-viri pór, Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɜːn/
(General American) IPA^(key): /fɝn/
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /fɘːn/,
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

Noun

fern (plural ferns)

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

(Pteridophyta): Filicophyta (archaic)

Derived terms

Translations

plant

Abkhaz: аҭы́рас (atə́ras)
Albanian: fier (sq) m
Arabic: سَرْخَس (sarḵas)
Armenian: պտեր (hy) (pter)
Aromanian: fearicã f
Assamese: ঢেকীয়া (dhekia)
Azerbaijani: qıjı, ayıdöşəyi
Basque: ira
Belarusian: па́параць f (páparacʹ), па́паратнік m (páparatnik)
Bengali: ফার্ন (bn) (pharno)
Breton: raden (br) pl
Bulgarian: папрат (bg) f (paprat)
Burmese: ဒရင်ကောက်ပင် du (da.rangkaukpang)
Catalan: falguera (ca) f
Valencian: falaguera (ca) f
Cebuano: pakó
Chechen: чураш (čuraš)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 蕨類／蕨类 (zh) (juélèi)
Cornish: reden pl
Czech: kapradina f, kapraď (cs) f
Danish: bregne (da) c
Dutch: varen (nl) c
Erzya: карёлго (kaŕolgo)
Esperanto: filiko
Estonian: sõnajalg (et)
Faroese: trøllakampur m, trøllakambur m
Finnish: saniainen (fi)
French: fougère (fr) f
Friulian: felet
Galician: fieito m, fento (gl), felgo, folgueira (gl) f, dentabrún m, botrico m
Gallo: faeugieur' f
Georgian: გვიმრა (gvimra)
German: Farn (de) m, Farnkraut (de) n
Greek: φτέρη (el) f (ftéri)
Ancient: πτέρις f (ptéris)
Hebrew: שָׂרָךְ (he) (sharakh)
Hindi: फर्न m (pharn)
Hungarian: páfrány (hu)
Icelandic: burkni (is) m
Indonesian: paku (id)
Ingrian: sananjalka, sannikkain
Interlingua: filice (ia)
Irish: raithneach f
Italian: felce (it) f
Ivatan: tamidok
Japanese: 歯朶 (ja) (しだ, shida), 羊歯 (ja) (しだ, shida)
Kapampangan: paku
Kazakh: қырыққұлақ (qyryqqūlaq)
Khmer: បណ្ណង្គជាតិ (pannangkĕəʼciət)
Korean: 양치류(羊齒類) (ko) (yangchiryu)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: serxes (ku) f, teraş (ku) f
Latgalian: papardis
Latin: filix f
Latvian: paparde
Lithuanian: papartis
Macedonian: папрат f (paprat)
Malay: paku (ms)
Malayalam: പന്നൽ (ml) (pannal)
Mansaka: pako
Manx: rhennagh m
Maori: huruwhenua
Mingrelian: გვიმორა (gvimora), გვიმარა (gvimara), გუიმარა (guimara), გუმარა (gumara)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: ойм (mn) (ojm)

Mongolian: ᠣᠶᠢᠮᠤ (oyimu)
Neapolitan: felece
Ngazidja Comorian: kudju class 5/6
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bregne (no) m or f

Nynorsk: bregne m
Occitan: falguièra (oc) f, falguièira f
Old English: fearn n
Persian: سرخس (fa) (saraxs)
Polish: paproć (pl) f
Portuguese: samambaia (pt) f (Brazil), feto (pt) m (Portugal)
Romanian: ferigă (ro) f
Russian: па́поротник (ru) m (páporotnik)
Sardinian: fíbixi, fíliche, fírigu
Scots: fairn
Scottish Gaelic: raineach f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: па̏пра̄т f

Roman: pȁprāt (sh) f
Slovak: papraď f
Slovene: práprot (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: paproś f
Spanish: helecho (es) m, helez m
Svan: იფხ (ipx), გვიმბრა (gvimbra), გუ̂იმბრა (gûimbra), გუ̂იმრა (gûimra), გუ̂რიმბ (gûrimb), გუ̂იმორ (gûimor)
Swahili: mkangaga class 3/4
Swedish: ormbunke (sv), bräken
Tagalog: pako
Thai: เฟิร์น (th) (fəən)
Turkish: eğrelti otu (tr)
Ukrainian: па́пороть f (páporotʹ)
Uzbek: qirqquloq (uz)
Venetian: féłese f
Vietnamese: dương xỉ (vi)
Volapük: filig
Welsh: rhedynen f

Anagrams

fren, fren', nerf

German

Etymology

From Old High German ferrana.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fɛʁn/
audio (file)
audio (file)
Rhymes: -ɛʁn

Adjective

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

remote
far away

Declension

Positive forms of fern

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
predicative		er ist fern	sie ist fern	es ist fern	sie sind fern
strong declension (without article)	nominative	ferner	ferne	fernes	ferne
	genitive	fernen	ferner	fernen	ferner
	dative	fernem	ferner	fernem	fernen
	accusative	fernen	ferne	fernes	ferne
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der ferne	die ferne	das ferne	die fernen
	genitive	des fernen	der fernen	des fernen	der fernen
	dative	dem fernen	der fernen	dem fernen	den fernen
	accusative	den fernen	die ferne	das ferne	die fernen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein ferner	eine ferne	ein fernes	(keine) fernen
	genitive	eines fernen	einer fernen	eines fernen	(keiner) fernen
	dative	einem fernen	einer fernen	einem fernen	(keinen) fernen
	accusative	einen fernen	eine ferne	ein fernes	(keine) fernen

Comparative forms of fern

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
predicative		er ist ferner	sie ist ferner	es ist ferner	sie sind ferner
strong declension (without article)	nominative	fernerer	fernere	ferneres	fernere
	genitive	ferneren	fernerer	ferneren	fernerer
	dative	fernerem	fernerer	fernerem	ferneren
	accusative	ferneren	fernere	ferneres	fernere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der fernere	die fernere	das fernere	die ferneren
	genitive	des ferneren	der ferneren	des ferneren	der ferneren
	dative	dem ferneren	der ferneren	dem ferneren	den ferneren
	accusative	den ferneren	die fernere	das fernere	die ferneren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein fernerer	eine fernere	ein ferneres	(keine) ferneren
	genitive	eines ferneren	einer ferneren	eines ferneren	(keiner) ferneren
	dative	einem ferneren	einer ferneren	einem ferneren	(keinen) ferneren
	accusative	einen ferneren	eine fernere	ein ferneres	(keine) ferneren

Superlative forms of fern

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
predicative		er ist am fernsten	sie ist am fernsten	es ist am fernsten	sie sind am fernsten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	fernster	fernste	fernstes	fernste
	genitive	fernsten	fernster	fernsten	fernster
	dative	fernstem	fernster	fernstem	fernsten
	accusative	fernsten	fernste	fernstes	fernste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der fernste	die fernste	das fernste	die fernsten
	genitive	des fernsten	der fernsten	des fernsten	der fernsten
	dative	dem fernsten	der fernsten	dem fernsten	den fernsten
	accusative	den fernsten	die fernste	das fernste	die fernsten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein fernster	eine fernste	ein fernstes	(keine) fernsten
	genitive	eines fernsten	einer fernsten	eines fernsten	(keiner) fernsten
	dative	einem fernsten	einer fernsten	einem fernsten	(keinen) fernsten
	accusative	einen fernsten	eine fernste	ein fernstes	(keine) fernsten

Derived terms

Related terms

Icelandic

Etymology

From the root fer-. Compare tvennur, þrennur.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fɛrtn/
Rhymes: -ɛrtn

Adjective

fern

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 skór – four pairs of shoes

fernir tónleikar – four 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 that I need. (noun omitted)

Ég vil fá fernt af öllu. – I want four of everything.

Inflection

positive (strong declension)

singular	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	fern	fern	fernt
accusative	fernan	ferna	fernt
dative	fernum	fernri	fernu
genitive	ferns	fernrar	ferns
plural	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	fernir	fernar	fern
accusative	ferna	fernar	fern
dative	fernum	fernum	fernum
genitive	fernra	fernra	fernra

positive (weak declension)

singular	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ferni	ferna	ferna
accusative	ferna	fernu	ferna
dative	ferna	fernu	ferna
genitive	ferna	fernu	ferna
plural	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	fernu	fernu	fernu
accusative	fernu	fernu	fernu
dative	fernu	fernu	fernu
genitive	fernu	fernu	fernu

Derived terms

ferna

Related terms

Middle English

Alternative forms

vern, fearn, farn, varn, firn

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fɛːrn/, /fɛrn/

Noun

fern (plural ferns)

fern

Derived terms

ferny

Descendants

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

References

“fē̆rn, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Irish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fʲer͈n͈/

Noun

fern f (genitive fernae, nominative plural ferna)

alder
shield (made of alder wood)
pole, stake
the letter F

Inflection

Feminine ā-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	fern^L	feirn^L	ferna^H
Vocative	fern^L	feirn^L	ferna^H
Accusative	feirn^N	feirn^L	ferna^H
Genitive	fernae^H	fern^L	fern^N
Dative	feirn^L	fernaib	fernaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: ^H = triggers aspiration ^L = triggers lenition ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

Irish: fearn
- ⇒ Irish: fearnóg
Manx: farney
Scottish Gaelic: feàrna

Mutation

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

Old Saxon

Noun

fern m

Alternative form of infern

Wikious

Boobota

Sagapedia