fern
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɜːn/
ipa: /fɝn/
ipa: /fɜːn/
ipa: [fɘːn]
ipa: /fɛːrn/
ipa: /fɛrn/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
Forms: form: ferns
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: glosses: 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: sense: Pteridophyta
word: Filicophyta
Derived terms: taxonomic: Ophioglossum spp.
word: adder's fern
english: hydrozoan skeletons
translation: hydrozoan skeletons
word: air fern
taxonomic: Lygodium palmatum
word: Alice's fern
taxonomic: Lygodium palmatum
word: American climbing fern
word: artillery fern
english: in genus Asparagus
translation: in genus Asparagus
word: asparagus fern
word: autumn fern
word: ball fern
word: bamboo fern
word: Barnsley fern
word: basket fern
word: bead fern
word: bird's-nest fern
word: bladder fern
word: Boston fern
word: buckler fern
word: bulblet fern
word: chain fern
word: Christmas fern
word: cinnamon fern
word: climbing fern
word: climbing maidenhair fern
taxonomic: Notholaena spp.
word: cloak fern
taxonomic: Gleichenia spp.
word: coral fern
taxonomic: Azolla spp.
word: duckweed fern
taxonomic: Polystichum acrostichoides
word: evergreen wood fern
word: fern ally
word: fernane
word: fern bar
word: fernbird
word: fernbrake
taxonomic: Chamaebatiaria millefolium
word: fern bush
word: fern cake
word: Ferndale
word: ferndom
word: ferned
word: fernene
word: fernery
word: fern house
word: ferning
word: fernland
word: fern-leaf
word: fernless
word: fernlike
word: fernowl
word: fern pine
word: fernroot
word: fern seed
word: fernseed
word: fernshaw
word: Fernside
word: ferny
word: filmy fern
word: grape fern
word: hard fern
word: hardfern
word: hare's-foot fern
taxonomic: Lygodium palmatum
word: Hartford fern
word: hay-scented fern
word: horseshoe fern
word: ice fern
taxonomic: Lygodium japonicum
word: Japanese climbing fern
word: Japanese shield fern
taxonomic: Todea barbara
word: king fern
word: lady fern
word: leatherleaf fern
word: lip fern
word: maidenhair fern
word: male fern
word: man fern
taxonomic: Azolla spp.
word: mosquito fern
word: mule fern
word: nanofern
word: netted chain fern
taxonomic: Parathelypteris noveboracensis
word: New York fern
word: nonfern
word: northern lady fern
word: oak fern
word: ostrich fern
taxonomic: Cryptogramma crispa
word: parsley fern
word: rabbit's-foot fern
word: rattlesnake fern
word: ribbon fern
taxonomic: Osmunda spectabilis
word: royal fern
taxonomic: Pteridospermatophyta spp.
word: seed fern
taxonomic: Onoclea sensibilis
word: sensitive fern
word: shield fern
word: silver fern
word: staghorn fern
word: sweet fern
english: in genus Comptonia
translation: in genus Comptonia
word: sweetfern
word: sword fern
word: Tara fern
word: tree fern
word: twinsorus fern
taxonomic: Sticherus spp.
word: umbrella fern
word: vegetable fern
word: Venus hair fern
word: walking fern
taxonomic: Azolla spp.
word: water fern
word: whisk fern
word: wig tree fern
word: Wilson's filmy fern
word: woodfern
word: wood fern
Related terms: bracken