Fern

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /fɜːn/
• US IPA: /fɝn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

Origin

From Old English fearn, from Proto-Germanic *farną (cf. Dutch varen, German Farn), from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm ("wing, feather"). Cognate with Lithuanian spar̃nas, Albanian fier ("fern"), Avestan (parəna, "feather"), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, "feather").

Full definition of fern

Noun

1. 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

• (Pteridophyta) archaic

Derived terms

• ferny
• male fern

Anagrams

• nerf