Refine this word faster
Fen
Definitions
- 1 Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action; a check or bar. obsolete
- 1 A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.
"Near-synonyms: marsh, swamp, bog, mire"
- 2 A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan.
"One poster, which appeared on the Barkhor on 20 May, ridiculed the way neighbourhood committees were recruiting participants: “We paid 30 fen for one stone, but you hire people for 30 yuan for the picnic in the Norbulingka” (“30 fen” — one hundred fen is one yuan — is a joking reference to Chinese accusations that Tibetans were paid 30 fen by splittists for each stone thrown on 1 October 1987)."
- 3 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. slang
"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."
- 4 A fennec fox. Internet, informal, slang
"Your fursona holding mine while she's arguing with some random person Like you're cradling the little fen & she's screaming out threats"
- 5 A kind of mildew that grows on hops. obsolete, uncountable
"[…]whereby the ſtagnating ſap corrupts, and breeds mouldy fen, which often ſpoils whole tracts of, till then, flouriſhing hop-grounds."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation; usually is a transition zone between land and water wordnet
- 7 Any swamp or mire (especially with negative connotations). broadly
"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."
- 8 100 fen equal 1 yuan in China wordnet
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”).
From Chinese 分 (fēn). Doublet of hoon and fan.
From fan, by analogy with men as the plural of man.
Clipping of fennec (“a small fox of the species Vulpes zerda, found in the Sahara (excluding the coast) and having distinctive oversized ears.”).
Compare fend.
From Middle English *vene, Kentish variant of *fine, from Old English fyne (“moisture, mold, mildew”), from Proto-Germanic *funiz, *fun- (“moisture, mold”); compare vinew.
See also for "fen"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Want a quick game? Try Word Finder.