# fen

> English word · Noun · IPA /fɛn/ · frequency rank #35,717

## Definitions
1. A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.
2. Any swamp or mire (especially with negative connotations).

## 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **fi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fi)
- **FL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fl)
- **FM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fm)
- **fu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fu)
- **FF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-ff)
- **fo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fo)
- **FS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fs)
- **FN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fn)
- **FP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fp)
- **FW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fw)
- **fy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fy)
- **for** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-for)
- **few** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-few)
- **fun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fun)
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fit)
- **fix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fix)
- **fly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fly)
- **fox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fox)
- **fig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fig)
- **fur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fen-vs-fur)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fen