fen

[fen]

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noun

low land covered wholly or partially with water; boggy land; a marsh.

the Fens, a marshy region W and S of The Wash, in E England.

Origin of fen

before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Norse fen quagmire, Gothic fani mud, Dutch ven, German Fenn fen, bog

fen

[fen]

noun, plural fen.

an aluminum coin and monetary unit of the People's Republic of China, the hundredth part of a yuan or the tenth part of a jiao.

Origin of fen

First recorded in 1905–10, fen is from the Chinese word fēn

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fen

mire, quagmire, moor, bog, wetland

Examples from the Web for fen

Historical Examples of fen

For a first book ‘A Daughter of the Fen’ is full of promise.
Robert Orange
John Oliver Hobbes
Beyond, flows the Fen River, and before him is the city gate.
The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's
A. Mildred Cable
There was not a light in any house she passed, not even in Mr. Fen Llewellen's cottage.
Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp
Annie Roe Carr
Shall we try to circle this fen and get across, or go back again?
Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks
Lillian Elizabeth Roy
But do you think it will take off all the water, and spoil the fen, Dave?
Dick o' the Fens
George Manville Fenn

British Dictionary definitions for fen

fen

noun

low-lying flat land that is marshy or artificially drained

Word Origin for fen

Old English fenn; related to Old High German fenna, Old Norse fen, Gothic fani clay, Sanskrit panka mud

fen

noun plural fen

a monetary unit of the People's Republic of China, worth one hundredth of a yuan

Word Origin for fen

from Mandarin Chinese

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fen

Old English fenn "mud, mire, dirt; fen, marsh, moor," from Proto-Germanic *fanjam- (cf. Old Saxon feni, Old Frisian fenne, Middle Dutch venne, Dutch veen, Old High German fenna, German Fenn "marsh," Old Norse fen, Gothic fani "mud"), from PIE *pen- "swamp" (cf. Gaulish anam "water," Sanskrit pankah "bog, marsh, mud," Old Prussian pannean "swampland"). Italian and Spanish fango, Old French fanc, French fange "mud" are loan-words from Germanic. The native Latin word was limus or lutum.