FreeScrabbleDictionary

fenny

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
11
Words With Friends
12
Letters
5
Pronunciation
/ˈfɛni/

Definition of fenny

5 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
    “[I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places.”
    “[F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]”
    “Elephant. Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.”
    “It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses.”
See all 5 definitions

adj

  1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
    “[I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places.”
    “[F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]”
    “Elephant. Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.”
    “It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses.”
  2. Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen.
    “A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome.”
    “Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake: […]”
    “Of the Indian Dragons there are alſo ſaid to be tvvo kindes, one of them fenny, and liuing in the Marſhes, vvhich are ſlovv of pace and vvithout combes on their heades like females: […]”
    “Godvvit. […] they are a fenny fovvl, and live of VVorms, about River banks: […]”
    “The hungry Crocodile, and hiſſing Snake / Lurk in the troubl'd Stream and fenny Brake: […]”
  3. (also, figuratively, obsolete)Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy.
    “Lord vvhat a nothing is this little Span, / VVe call a Man! / VVhat fenny traſh maintaines the ſmooth'ring fires / Of his desires!”

noun

  1. (alt-of, alternative, colloquial)Alternative form of fennie (“fenestration”).

name

  1. A female given name, short for Fenella.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English fenny, fenni (“marshy, muddy; of meat: putrid, rotten; of a person: sinful, vile”), from Old English fenniġ (“dirty; marshy, muddy, fenny”), from fen, fenn (“marsh, fen; mud”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist, wet; mud; swamp; water”)) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as fen + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).

Anagrams of fenny

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from fenny

8 playable · top: FEY (9 pts)

Best play fey 9 points

3-letter words

2 words

2-letter words

5 words

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