fen
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fen¹
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
From Middle English fen, fenne, from Old English fenn (“fen; marsh; mud; dirt”), Proto-West Germanic *fani, from Proto-Germanic *fanją, from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“bog, mire”).
See also West Frisian fean, Dutch veen, German Fenn, Norwegian fen; also Middle Irish en (“water”), enach (“swamp”), Old Prussian pannean (“peat-bog”), Sanskrit पङ्क (paṅka, “marsh, mud, mire, slough”).
noun fens
- A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline. Near-synonyms: marsh, swamp, bog, mire
- Any swamp or mire (especially with negative connotations). Caliban: As wicked dewe, as ere my mother bruſh'd / With Rauens feather from vnwholeſome Fen / Drop on you both : A Southweſt blow on yee, / And bliſter you all ore.
fen²
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
From Chinese 分 (fēn). Doublet of hoon and fan.
noun fen · fens
- A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan. One poster, which appeared on the Barkhor on 20 May, ridiculed the way neighbourhood committees were recruiting participants: “We paid 30 fen for one stone, but you hire people for 30 yuan for the picnic in the Norbulingka” (“30 fen” — one hundred fen is one yuan — is a joking reference to Chinese a
fen³
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
From fan, by analogy with men as the plural of man.
noun
- a plural of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc. Sad to relate, some of the European delegates were probably insurgents rather than true fen. […] But the Europeans could be counted on to take the long view, and many of them would probably turn out to be real fen and fenne after all.
fen⁴
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
Clipping of fennec (“a small fox of the species Vulpes zerda, found in the Sahara (excluding the coast) and having distinctive oversized ears.”).
noun fens
- A fennec fox. Your fursona holding mine while she's arguing with some random person Like you're cradling the little fen & she's screaming out threats
fen⁵
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
Compare fend.
interjection
- Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action; a check or bar.
fen⁶
- /fɛn/ US, UK
- /fɪn/ US, pin pen merger
- /fen/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like fin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn
Where it comes from
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
- A kind of mildew that grows on hops. […]whereby the ſtagnating ſap corrupts, and breeds mouldy fen, which often ſpoils whole tracts of, till then, flouriſhing hop-grounds.
FEN⁷
proper noun
- Initialism of Forsyth–Edwards Notation
Translations
Talk about this word "fen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fen. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. fen. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fen "fen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fen.Cite this
@misc{fen_2026,
title = {fen},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fen},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
