See also: Fern

English edit

 
A fern.

Etymology edit

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 pā́r, Kamkata-viri pór, Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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 edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

German edit

Etymology edit

From Old High German ferrana.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

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

  1. remote
  2. far away

Declension edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

  • fern” in Duden online
  • fern” in Duden online
  • fern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Icelandic edit

Etymology edit

From the root fer-. Compare tvennur, þrennur.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

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 edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

fern (plural ferns)

  1. fern

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

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

References edit

Old Irish edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

fern f (genitive fernae, nominative plural ferna)

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

Inflection edit

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 edit

Mutation edit

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 edit

Noun edit

fern m

  1. Alternative form of infern