fern
UK /fɜːn/ · US /fɝn/ noun, proper noun
Forms ferns
- noun 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.
- noun (by extension) A light green color inspired by the color of ferns.
- proper noun A female given name.
- proper noun A topographic surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fern, from Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn, from Proto-Germanic *farnaz (“fern”), from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing; fern, leaf”), from *p(t)erH- (“fern”).
Cognate with Scots fairn (“fern”), North Frisian farne (“fern”), West Frisian fear (“fern”), Dutch varen (“fern”), German Farn, Farm (“fern”), Luxembourgish Far (“fern”); also Breton raden (“fern”), Cornish reden (“ferns; brackens”), Welsh rhedyn (“ferns; brackens”), Latvian paparde (“fern; bracken”), spārns (“wing”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Bulgarian and Macedonian папрат (paprat, “fern”), Czech kapraď (“fern”), Polish paproć (“fern”), Russian па́пороть (páporotʹ), па́поротник (páporotnik, “fern”), Serbo-Croatian па̏пра̄т, pȁprāt (“fern”), Slovak papraď (“fern”), Slovene praprot (“fern”), Ukrainian па́пороть (páporotʹ, “fern”), Central Kurdish پەڕ (perr, “feather”), Persian پر (par, “feather; wing; leaf”), Ashkun pār (“leaf”), Kamkata-viri por, přor (“leaf”), Prasuni parëg (“leaf”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “wing; leaf”).
From fern; in the case of the surname, it was given to someone who lived in a place where there was an abundance of these plants.
Webster’s 1913
- adverb Long ago. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- adjective Ancient; old. [Obs.] "Pilgrimages to . . . ferne halwes." [saints]. Chaucer.
- noun An order of cryptogamous plants, the Filices, which have their fructification on the back of the fronds or leaves. They are usually found in humid soil, sometimes grow epiphytically on trees, and in tropical climates often attain a gigantic size.
Etymology [AS. fyrn.]
Etymology [AS. fearn; akin to D. varen, G. farn, farnkraut; cf. Skr. parna wing, feather, leaf, sort of plant, or Lith. papartis fern.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fern”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details