Fenland

name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A kind of low-lying ground, often wet or marshy. countable, uncountable

    "It is this duplication of facilities which is mainly responsible for the poor loadings experienced on the Midland & Great Northern line, apart, of course, from the general sparsity of traffic in Northern Norfolk, and the fenlands around the Wash."

  2. 2
    low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation; usually is a transition zone between land and water wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A local government district of Cambridgeshire, England.

Example

More examples

"It is this duplication of facilities which is mainly responsible for the poor loadings experienced on the Midland & Great Northern line, apart, of course, from the general sparsity of traffic in Northern Norfolk, and the fenlands around the Wash."

Etymology

From Middle English fenlond, from Old English fenland, equivalent to fen + land. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foanlound (“moorland”), West Frisian feanlân (“peat bog”), Dutch veenland (“peat bog”), Middle Low German vēnlant, vennelant (“swampy, boggy pastureland”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.