Fern Definition

fûrn

ferns

noun

Any of numerous flowerless, seedless vascular plants that produce spores giving rise to free-living gametophytes and that often have dissected leaves.

American Heritage

Any of a widespread division (Filicophyta) of nonflowering embryophytes having roots, stems, and fronds, and reproducing by spores instead of by seeds.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

pronoun

A female given name from the fern plant.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Fern

Noun

Singular:

fern

Plural:

ferns

Origin of Fern

From Old English fearn, from Proto-Germanic *farną (cf. Dutch varen, German Farn), from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“wing, feather”). Cognate with Lithuanian spar̃nas, Albanian fier (“fern”), Avestan [script?] (parəna, “feather”), Sanskrit पर्ण (parṇá, “feather”).

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English fearn per-² in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition