fern

Meaning

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.

Synonyms

bracken

brake

plant

🌱

sheet

bedsheet

fiddlehead

fern ally

rasp fern

filix

Pteridophyte

fern root

Translations

fougère

helecho

Farn

felce

feto

varen

falguera

samambaia

φτέρη

Farnkraut

filix

falguièra

سرخس

falaguera

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɜːn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: fern

Inherited from Old English: fearn

Cognate with Western Frisian: fear

Cognate with Dutch: varen

Cognate with German: Farn

Cognate with Lithuanian: spar̃nas

Cognate with Avestan: 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀

Cognate with Ashkun: pār

Cognate with Kati: por

Cognate with Prasuni: parëg

Cognate with Sanskrit: पर्ण

In summary

From Middle English fern, from Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn, from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing; fern, leaf”), from *p(t)erH- (“fern”).
Cognate with Scots fairn (“fern”), West Frisian fear (“fern”), Dutch varen (“fern”), German Farn, Farm (“fern”), Luxembourgish Far (“fern”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀 (par^əna), Ashkun pār (“leaf”), Kamkata-viri por, přor, Prasuni parëg (“leaf”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “wing”).