fenny
/ˈfɛni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.73 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
name
Example Sentences
- "[I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places."
- "[F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]"
- "Elephant. Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c."
- "It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses."
- "A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome."
- "Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake: […]"
Etymology
From Middle English fenny, fenni (“marshy, muddy; of meat: putrid, rotten; of a person: sinful, vile”), from Old English fenniġ (“dirty; marshy, muddy, fenny”), from fen, fenn (“marsh, fen; mud”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist, wet; mud; swamp; water”)) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as fen + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɛni/
- British English: /ˈfɛni/