different between ferny vs ferry

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 ferien (“to carry, convey, convey in a boat”), from Old English ferian (“to carry, convey, bear, bring, lead, conduct, betake oneself to, be versed in, depart, go”), from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjan? (“to make or let go, transfer, ferry”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring or carry over, transfer, pass through”).

Cognate with German dialectal feren, fähren (“to row, sail”), Danish færge (“to ferry”), Swedish färja (“to ferry”), Icelandic ferja (“to ferry”), Old Norse ferja. Related to fare.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??i/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /?f???/
• (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -??i
  • Homophone: fairy (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Hyphenation: fer?ry

Verb

ferry (third-person singular simple present ferries, present participle ferrying, simple past and past participle ferried)

1. (transitive) To carry; transport; convey.

   Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.

   • 2007, Rick Bass, The Lives of Rocks:

     We ferried our stock in U-Haul trailers, and across the months, as we purchased more cowflesh from the Goat Man — meat vanishing into the ether again and again, as if into some quarkish void — we became familiar enough with Sloat and his daughter to learn that her name was Flozelle, and to visit with them about matters other than stock.

2. (transitive) To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.

3. (transitive) To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
4. (intransitive) To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.

Noun

ferry (plural ferries)

1. A ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
2. A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
   • 1809, Thomas Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter

     to row us o'er the ferry

   • c. 1900, O. Henry, The Ferry of Unfulfilment:

     She walked into the waiting-room of the ferry, and up the stairs, and by a marvellous swift, little run, caught the ferry-boat that was just going out.

3. The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• boat
• ship

Anagrams

• Freyr, Fryer, fryer, refry

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English ferry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?.?i/

Noun

ferry m (plural ferries or ferrys)

1. ferry

Derived terms

• car-ferry

Spanish

Alternative forms

• ferri

Etymology

From English ferry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?feri/, [?fe.ri]

Noun

ferry m (plural ferrys or ferries)

1. ferry

   Synonyms: transbordador, trasbordador