# fern

> English word · Noun · IPA /fɜːn/ · frequency rank #20,354

## Definitions
1. Any of a group of some twenty thousand species of vascular plants classified in the division Pteridophyta that lack seeds and reproduce by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations.

## Etymology
From Middle English fern, from Old English fearn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn, from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing; fern, leaf”), from *p(t)erH- (“fern”).
Cognate with Scots fairn (“fern”), West Frisian fear (“fern”), Dutch varen (“fern”), German Farn, Farm (“fern”), Luxembourgish Far (“fern”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀 (par^əna), Ashkun pār (“leaf”), Kamkata-viri por, přor, Prasuni parëg (“leaf”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “wing”).

## Easily confused with
- **FN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fn)
- **for** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-for)
- **few** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-few)
- **fun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fun)
- **fur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fur)
- **fry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fry)
- **fin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fin)
- **fir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fir)
- **fro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fro)
- **fra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fra)
- **fey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fey)
- **fez** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fez)
- **FES** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fes)
- **FET** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fet)
- **feu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-feu)
- **form** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-form)
- **fire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fire)
- **firm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-firm)
- **ford** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-ford)
- **fort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fern-vs-fort)

## Common misspellings (6)
`efrn`, `fenr`, `fernn`, `ferrn`, `ffern`, `fren`

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