fern
English · Français · Deutsch · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
fern¹
- /fɜːn/ UK
- /fɝn/ Canada, US
- /fɜːn/ Australia
- [fɘːn] Australia
- /fɛːrn/ Early Modern
- /fɛrn/ Early Modern
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n
Where it comes from
From Middle English fern, from Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn, from Proto-Germanic *farnaz (“fern”), from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing; fern, leaf”), from *p(t)erH- (“fern”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots fairn (“fern”), North Frisian farne (“fern”), West Frisian fear (“fern”), Dutch varen (“fern”), German Farn, Farm (“fern”), Luxembourgish Far (“fern”); also Breton raden (“fern”), Cornish reden (“ferns; brackens”), Welsh rhedyn (“ferns; brackens”), Latvian paparde (“fern; bracken”), spārns (“wing”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Bulgarian and Macedonian папрат (paprat, “fern”), Czech kapraď (“fern”), Polish paproć (“fern”), Russian па́пороть (páporotʹ), па́поротник (páporotnik, “fern”), Serbo-Croatian па̏пра̄т, pȁprāt (“fern”), Slovak papraď (“fern”), Slovene praprot (“fern”), Ukrainian па́пороть (páporotʹ, “fern”), Central Kurdish پەڕ (perr, “feather”), Persian پر (par, “feather; wing; leaf”), Ashkun pār (“leaf”), Kamkata-viri por, přor (“leaf”), Prasuni parëg (“leaf”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “wing; leaf”).
noun ferns
-
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.
Beyond here the tides are not felt, and we now entered upon a district of elevated forest, with a finer vegetation. Large trees stretch out their arms across the stream, and the steep, earthy banks are clothed with ferns and zingiberaceous plants.
Similar: Filicophyta
- A light green color inspired by the color of ferns.
Fern²
- /fɜːn/ UK
- /fɝːn/ US
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n
Where it comes from
From fern; in the case of the surname, it was given to someone who lived in a place where there was an abundance of these plants.
proper noun Ferns
- A female given name. "Charlotte is the best storyteller I ever heard," said Fern, poking her dish towel into a cereal bowl.
- A topographic surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: braky, species, maidenhair, away, far, remote, julie, gaz, fernand, journ, fiddlehead, bracken, brake, pteridophyte, polypodiophyte, filicineae
Translations
Every language
noun plant
| Español | helecho, shapumba, yogo, calimete |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 양치류 yangchiryu |
| 日本語 | 歯朶 shida, 羊歯 shida |
| 中文 | 蕨類 /蕨类 juélèi |
| हिन्दी | फर्न pharn |
| Kiswahili | mkangaga |
| Português | samambaia, feto |
| Français | fougère |
| Deutsch | Farn, Farnkraut |
| Italiano | felce |
| Ελληνικά | φτέρη ftéri |
| Română | ferigă |
| Русский | па́поротник páporotnik |
| Tiếng Việt | dương xỉ |
| العربية | سَرْخَس sarḵas |
| עברית | שָׂרָךְ sharakh |
Talk about this word "fern." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fern. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. fern. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fern "fern." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fern.Cite this
@misc{fern_2026,
title = {fern},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fern},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
