different between ferny vs fenny

English

Etymology

fern +? -y

Adjective

ferny (comparative fernier, superlative ferniest)

1. Of, or pertaining to ferns. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
2. Resembling or characteristic of a fern, in appearance, smell, etc.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, “Time,” [1]

     All kinds of mosses grew by the stream—tufty, flat, ferny, and curly, green, yellow and a whitish kind that was tipped with scarlet sealing wax.

   • 1954, William Golding, Lord of the Flies, London: Faber & Faber, Chapter One,

     Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds.

3. Covered in or filled with ferns; flanked or surrounded by ferns.
   • 1922, Katherine Mansfield, “At the Bay” in The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield, Penguin, 2007,

     And from the bush there came the sound of little streams flowing, quickly, lightly, slipping between the smooth stones, gushing into ferny basins and out again; and there was the splashing of big drops on large leaves […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English fenny, from Old English fenni?; equivalent to fen +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /?f?ni/
• Rhymes: -?ni

Adjective

fenny (comparative more fenny, superlative most fenny)

1. Characteristic of a fen; marshy, swampy.
2. (now only of plants) Living or growing in a fen.

Synonyms

• (characteristic of a fen): fennish, quaggy, uliginous; see also Thesaurus:marshy

Translations

Anagrams

• fynne

Middle English

Alternative forms

• fenni

Etymology

From Old English fenni?; equivalent to fen +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?ni?/

Adjective

fenny (plural and weak singular fennye)

1. fenny, marshy; like a fen
2. (rare) rotten, tainted, sinful

Descendants

• English: fenny

References

• “fenn?, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.