ford
/fɔɹd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.50 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
verb
To cross a stream by walking through it.
verb
name
A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived near a ford.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "He swam the Esk river where ford there was none."
- "With water of the ford / Or of the clouds."
- "Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford."
- "He named that place, for it was near her dwelling, and on the road between Balerynie and Heriotside, which fords the Sker Burn."
- "Since the time of Seyavi the deer have shifted their feeding ground across the valley at the beginning of deep snows, by way of the Black Rock, fording the river at Charley's Butte, and making straight for the mouth of the cañon that is the easiest going to the winter pastures on Waban."
- "Ratau drove with reckless authority through the quiet morning fires of his father's and forefathers' town and forded a river of goats on the road leading out of it."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *pértus Proto-Germanic *furduz Proto-West Germanic *furdu Old English ford English ford From Middle English fōrd, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”). Doublet of firth, fjord, and fjard, all via Old Norse; and port, distantly via Latin. Cognate with Low German Föörd, Dutch voord, German Furt, Norwegian and Danish fjord. See also forth and Persian پل (pol, “bridge”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: fōrd, ford, *furdu, *furduz, *pértus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɔɹd/
- British English: /fɔːd/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Alfords Point
Bedford Park
Chandler's Ford
Crawford River
East Gosford
East Gresford
Eaton Ford
Ford Green