How do you pronounce fern?

The recorded pronunciation is /fɝn/.

Where does fern come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

fern

/fɝn/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.27 in modern English

Syllables: fern
IPA: /fɝn/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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.

noun

A light green color inspired by the color of ferns.

name

A female given name.

name

A topographic surname.

Example Sentences

"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."
""Charlotte is the best storyteller I ever heard," said Fern, poking her dish towel into a cereal bowl."
"Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Rachel Fern Harris."

Etymology

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”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: fern, fearn, *farn, *farnaz, *pornóm

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /fɝn/
British English: /fɜːn/

Inflected Forms

ferns (plural)

Derived Forms

fernane fernbird fernbrake Ferndale ferndom ferned fernene fernery ferning fernland fernless fernlike

Phrases

adder's fern air fern Alice's fern artillery fern asparagus fern autumn fern ball fern bamboo fern

Frequently Paired Words

bracken see Thesaurus:green

Synonyms

Filicophyta

Homonyms

foehn

Rhymes With

turn return learn concern burn earn stern byrne urn discern kern bern