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fen

noun
/fɛn/

Etymology

From Middle English fen, fenne, from Old English fenn (“fen; marsh; mud; dirt”), Proto-West Germanic *fani, from Proto-Germanic *fanją, from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“bog, mire”). See also West Frisian fean, Dutch veen, German Fenn, Norwegian fen; also Middle Irish en (“water”), enach (“swamp”), Old Prussian pannean (“peat-bog”), Sanskrit पङ्क (paṅka, “marsh, mud, mire, slough”).

  1. derived from *pen-✻ — “bog, mire”
  2. inherited from *fanją✻
  3. inherited from *fani✻
  4. inherited from fenn — “fen; marsh; mud; dirt”
  5. inherited from fen

Definitions

  1. A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline,…

    A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.

    • Near-synonyms: marsh, swamp, bog, mire
    • Bogs are acidic, nutrient poor, and have a low species diversity, whereas fens are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels and species diversity.
    • Bogs are acidic peatlands, while fens are non-acidic peatlands.

  2. Any swamp or mire (especially with negative connotations).

    • Caliban: As wicked dewe, as ere my mother bruſh'd / With Rauens feather from vnwholeſome Fen / Drop on you both : A Southweſt blow on yee, / And bliſter you all ore.
    • Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee: she is a fen / Of stagnant waters […]
    • In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp / The hunted Negro lay; …

  3. A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan.

  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. a plural of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from…

      a plural of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.

      • Sad to relate, some of the European delegates were probably insurgents rather than true fen. […] But the Europeans could be counted on to take the long view, and many of them would probably turn out to be real fen and fenne after all.
      • So I’m glad the attached hotel block is entirely reserved for disabled fen! Traveling on mass transit is tiring even when everything’s up to code.

    2. A fennec fox.

      • Your fursona holding mine while she's arguing with some random person Like you're cradling the little fen & she's screaming out threats
      • I always wondered why foxes go flat-ear mode whenever they are happy or screaming, very cute fen btw
      • Just because an animal doesnt fight when you pet them doesn't mean they like it. If a fen's ears are back like that leave them the fuck alone

    3. Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action

      Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action; a check or bar.

    4. A kind of mildew that grows on hops.

      • […]whereby the ſtagnating ſap corrupts, and breeds mouldy fen, which often ſpoils whole tracts of, till then, flouriſhing hop-grounds.
      • Among these are reckoned the wire worm; the flea, and the fly; the fen or mould; the mildew ; and what are usually called fire blasts.
      • The mould, the fen, or the mouldy-fen, prevails more on hop-grounds which are low, moist, and sheltered, than on such as are high, dry, and open[…]

    5. Initialism of Forsyth–Edwards Notation

The neighborhood

Derived

fenberry, fen cricket, Fen Drayton, fen fire, fen goose, fenland, fenlike, fenman, fen nettle, fen nightingale, Fenning, fennish, fenny, Fenway, fenwoman, Mareham le Fen, Silicon Fen

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for fen. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA