different between ferny vs fern

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 ferne, 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 spar?nas, Avestan ????????????????????????? (par^?na), Kamkata-viri por, Sanskrit ???? (par?á).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n

Noun

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

• (Pteridophyta): Filicophyta (archaic)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bracken

Further reading

• fern on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• fren, fren', nerf

German

Etymology

From Old High German ferrana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??n/
• Rhymes: -??n

Adjective

fern (comparative ferner, superlative am fernsten)

1. remote
2. far away

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

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

Icelandic

Etymology

From the root fer-. Compare tvennur, þrennur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?rtn/
• Rhymes: -?rtn

Adjective

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 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 [things] that I need. (noun omitted)

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

Inflection

Derived terms

• ferna

Related terms

• fer-
• fjórir
• tvennur
• þrennur

Middle English

Alternative forms

• vern, fearn, farn, varn, firn

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??rn/, /f?rn/

Noun

fern (plural ferns)

1. fern

Descendants

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

References

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

Old Irish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?er?n?/

Noun

fern f (genitive fernae, nominative plural ferna)

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

Inflection

Descendants

• Irish: fearn
  • ? Irish: fearnóg
• Manx: farney
• Scottish Gaelic: feàrna

Mutation

Old Saxon

Noun

fern m

1. Alternative form of infern