Bracken

//ˈbɹækən// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    An unincorporated community in Huntington County, Indiana, United States.
  3. 3
    An unincorporated community in Webster County, Missouri, United States, named after Bracken Creek.
  4. 4
    A village in the Rural Municipality of Lone Tree No. 18, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Noun
  1. 1
    Any of several coarse ferns, of the genus Pteridium, that form dense thickets; often poisonous to livestock. countable, uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    large coarse fern often several feet high; essentially weed ferns; cosmopolitan wordnet
  3. 3
    An area of countryside heavily populated by this fern. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    fern of southeastern Asia; not hardy in cold temperate regions wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English braken, probably of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *brakni (“undergrowth”), related to Proto-Germanic *brekaną and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). Cognates include Danish bregne and Swedish bräken (“fern”).

Etymology 2

* As an Irish surname, from Ó Breacáin (“descendant of Breacán”), from Breacán, a name diminutive of breac (“spotted”) * As an English surname, from Middle English bracken (“fern”) * As an English habitational surname, from Bracon Ash in Norfolk, Bracken in Yorkshire * As a German surname, from Middle Low German braak (“fallow”) Also compare Brackeen.

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