foehn
/fɜːn/
"foehn" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“foehn” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A warm dry wind blowing down the north sides of the Alps, especially in Switzerland.
Corpus desk
Index EN-foehn · foehn · English
foehn · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | foehn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fɜːn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “foehn” in English
Rare enough to double-check
foehn is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /fɜːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
foehn doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from German Föhn, from Old High German phonno, from Vulgar Latin faōnius, an alteration of Latin favōnius (“west wind”), from Favōnius (“Roman wind god”). The correct English form is foehn, spelled F-O-E-H-N.
Definition
- 1A warm dry wind blowing down the north sides of the Alps, especially in Switzerland.
- 2A similar katabatic wind developing on the lee side of a mountain.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how foehn appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The foehn and the sun must have awakened the spirits of spring way up in the heights.
The foehns of the northern Alps are world-renowned for the formation of thermal belts on the alp terraces above the deep, U-shaped, glaciated valleys. Here the foehn phenomenon was first identified and the German word for "fall" or "descent" applied to it.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Föhn, from Old High German phonno, from Vulgar Latin faōnius, an alteration of Latin favōnius (“west wind”), from Favōnius (“Roman wind god”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.