different between fen vs feu

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?n/
• Rhymes: -?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English fen, fenne, from Old English fenn (“fen; marsh; mud; dirt”), Proto-West Germanic *fani, from Proto-Germanic *fanj? (compare West Frisian fean, Dutch veen, German Fenn, Norwegian fen), from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“bog, mire”). Compare Middle Irish en (“water”), enach (“swamp”), Old Prussian pannean (“peat-bog”), Sanskrit ???? (pa?ka, “marsh, mud, mire, slough”).

Noun

fen (plural fens)

1. A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.
   • 1807, William Wordsworth, "England, 1802," collected in Poems (1807):

     Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

     England hath need of thee: she is a fen

     Of stagnant waters […]

   • 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Slave in the Dismal Swamp, from Poems on Slavery:

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

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bog
• everglade
• marsh
• swamp
• wetland

Etymology 2

Noun

fen (plural fens)

2. A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan.

Translations

Etymology 3

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

Noun

fen pl (normally plural, singular fan)

1. (dated, fandom slang) Fans; a plural form used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.

Coordinate terms

• fenne

Derived terms

Etymology 4

Compare fend.

Interjection

fen

1. (obsolete) Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action; a check or bar.

Etymology 5

From Middle English *vene, Kentish variant of *fine, from Old English fyne (“moisture, mold, mildew”), from Proto-Germanic *funiz, *fun- (“moisture, mold”); compare vinew.

Noun

fen (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) A kind of mildew that grows on hops.

Anagrams

• ENF, nef

Catalan

Verb

fen

1. third-person singular present indicative form of fendre
2. second-person singular imperative form of fendre

Chuukese

Adjective

fen

1. holy

Synonyms

• pin

Adverb

fen

1. past tense marker for verbs
2. already

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?f?n]
• Rhymes: -?n

Etymology 1

Noun

fen m

1. fen (unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan).

Declension

Etymology 2

Noun

fen

1. genitive plural of fena

Further reading

• fen in Kartotéka Novo?eského lexikálního archivu

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin f?nitus. Compare Italian fino.

Adjective

fen (feminine faina)

1. fine
2. subtle
3. pure

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse fen, from Proto-Germanic *fanj?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fe?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

fen n (genitive singular fens, plural fen)

1. bog, quagmire

Declension

Derived terms

• fenbressa
• fendíki
• fenjutur

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin faenum, f?num.

Noun

fen m (plural fens)

1. hay

Related terms

• fenoli

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?f?n]
• Hyphenation: fen
• Rhymes: -?n

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finno-Ugric *pän? (“grindstone; grind”).

Verb

fen

1. (transitive) to sharpen, to whet, to hone

   Synonyms: köszörül, élesít, élez

2. (dialectal) to rub, to smear

   Synonyms: ken, dörgöl

Conjugation

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

fen (plural fenek)

2. fen (unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan)

Declension

References

Further reading

• (to whet): fen in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse fen, from Proto-Germanic *fanj?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??n/
• Rhymes: -??n

Noun

fen n (genitive singular fens, nominative plural fen)

1. fen, marsh, morass

Declension

Istriot

Etymology

From Latin faenum, f?num.

Noun

fen

1. hay

Mandarin

Romanization

fen

1. Nonstandard spelling of f?n.
2. Nonstandard spelling of fén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of f?n.
4. Nonstandard spelling of fèn.

Usage notes

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

• fenne, ven

Etymology

From Old English fenn; from Proto-Germanic *fanj?. The "dung" sense is influenced by Old French fien.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?n/

Noun

fen (plural fennes)

1. fen, bog, swamp
2. dirt, muddiness
3. dung, feces
4. (rare) rubbish, refuse
5. (rare) quagmire, lure

Declension

Descendants

• English: fen
• Scots: fen

References

• “fen, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “fen, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *fanj?.

Noun

fen n (genitive fens, plural fen)

1. bog, quagmire

Declension

References

• fen in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Föhn.

Noun

f?n m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. hair dryer
2. (meteorology) foehn

Declension

Swedish

Noun

fen

1. definite singular of fe

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic ????? (fann).

Noun

fen (definite accusative fenni, plural fenler)

1. science

Declension

Synonyms

• ilim
• bilim

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fju?/

Noun

feu (plural feus)

1. (Scotland, historical, law) Land held in feudal tenure.

Derived terms

• feuar
• feu-holding
• feu-holder

Verb

feu (third-person singular simple present feus, present participle feuing, simple past and past participle feued)

1. (Scotland, law, transitive) To bring (land) under the system of feudal tenure.
   • 1813, "Keith", Entry in Nicholas Carlisle, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Volume II, unnumbered page,

     The Village of OLD KEITH is of ancient date, having been partly feued by the predecessors of the Family of Forbes, and partly feued by the Ministers, and stands upon the glebe: this Village is greatly on the decline, and almost a ruin.—About the year 1750, the late Lord FINDLATER divided a barren Muir, and feued it out in small lots […] .

   • 1841, Alexander Dunlop, J. M. Bell, John Murray, James Donaldson (reporters), Cases Decided in the Court of Session, Volume 3, 2nd Series, page 620,

     The prohibition of feuing beyond a certain extent was clearly implied; […] .

   • 2001, Richard Rodger, The Transformation of Edinburgh: Land, Property and Trust in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, 2004, Paperback, page 68,

     But in effect, whereas Heriot's knew that their feuing conditions were subordinate to the law of contract, the Earl of Moray knew by 1822 that as a result of the Lords' decision in 1818 estate development could not be controlled by contract law and the feuing plan. […] The impact on the Moray estate was that […] despite a recession in the Edinburgh property market generally after 1826, virtually the entire estate was feued by 1836.

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin foedus.

Adjective

feu m sg (feminine singular fea, neuter singular feo, masculine plural feos, feminine plural fees)

1. ugly
2. bad, gloomy (weather)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?f?w/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?f?w/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?few/

Etymology 1

From Old Occitan feu, from Frankish *fehu, from Proto-Germanic *fehu.

Noun

feu m (plural feus)

1. fiefdom, fee

Related terms

• feudal

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

feu

1. second-person plural present indicative form of fer
2. second-person plural present subjunctive form of fer
3. second-person plural imperative form of fer

Further reading

• “feu” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “feu” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “feu” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “feu” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fø/
• (verlan) IPA^(key): /fø/, /fœ/, /fœ.ø/

Etymology 1

From Old French fu, from Latin focus (“hearth”), which in Late and Vulgar Latin replaced the Classical Latin ignis (“fire”).

Noun

feu m (plural feux)

1. fire
2. (cigarette) lighter
3. traffic light
   • 1999, Patrick Lemaire, Psychologie cognitive

     « Si le feu est vert, je passe » — If the light is green, I go

     « Si le feu est rouge, je m'arrête » — If the light is red, I stop

Derived terms

Related terms

• foyer
• fouace
• fougasse

Etymology 2

From Old French feüz, fadude (“one who has accomplished his destiny”), from Vulgar Latin *fatutus, from Latin fatum (“destiny”).

Adjective

feu (feminine singular feue, masculine plural feus, feminine plural feues)

1. deceased, the late

   Elle était la sœur de feu Jean Dupont

Further reading

• “feu” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Determiner

feu

1. Alternative form of fewe

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French fu.

Noun

feu m (plural feux)

1. fire

Descendants

• French: feu

Norman

Etymology

From Old French feu, from Latin focus (“hearth”).

Pronunciation

Noun

feu m (plural feux)

1. (Jersey) fire
2. (Jersey, medicine) rash

Derived terms

Sardinian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin foedus. Compare Spanish feo.

Adjective

feu

1. (Campidanese) dirty

Scots

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fju?]

Noun

feu (plural feus)

1. feud, tenure, piece of land held by that tenure

Verb

feu (third-person singular present feus, present participle feuin, past feuit, past participle feuit)

1. to grant or hold land by tenure

Derived terms

• feuar (“one who holds land in feu”)

Walloon

Etymology

From Latin focus.

Noun

feu ?

1. fire