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fen

USFEN/fɛn/

Pluralfens, fen

6 meanings of fen

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  1. 1
    nouncountable
    An area of low, wet, marshy land, in strict use a peat-forming wetland fed by groundwater and usually alkaline.

    Like a marsh, but fed from below by mineral-rich groundwater rather than by rain.

    Conservationists worked for years to restore the drained fen to its natural state.

    Peat cutters once dug fuel from the fen at the end of each summer.

    Note

    The ecologist's fen is defined against the bog. Both are peatlands, but bogs are acidic, nutrient-poor and low in species, while fens are less acidic, richer in nutrients and home to more species. A fen's acidity depends on the soil its seeping water has passed through, so some fens are only mildly acidic and others strongly basic.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Fens and bogs are distinct types of peatland. nepis.epa.gov
    • Bogs are acidic, nutrient-poor and comparatively low in species diversity; fens generally have lower acidity, more nutrients and greater diversity. epa.gov
    • The material through which groundwater passes influences a fen's acidity. en.wikipedia.org
    • Fens can range from mildly acidic to strongly basic. nepis.epa.gov
  2. 2
    Chinese coinnouncountable
    A unit of Chinese currency worth one-hundredth of a yuan.

    A single fen will barely buy anything in modern China.

    Old coins worth a few fen still turn up in collectors' drawers.

    UsageUsually unchanged in the plural: thirty fen, prices in yuan and fen.

    Note

    A borrowing from Mandarin 分 (fēn), unrelated to the wetland word except in spelling. Ronald David Schwartz quotes a protest poster that sets "30 fen" against "30 yuan", and that phrasing is the natural one for amounts.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The currency word comes from Chinese 分, with the Mandarin reading fēn, independently of the Old English wetland word. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ronald David Schwartz quotes a protest poster contrasting 30 fen with 30 yuan. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 3
    sci-fi fansnounslang
    A whimsical plural of fan adopted by science fiction, fantasy, and anime enthusiasts to set themselves apart from followers of sports and the like.

    The fen swapped fan art and wild theories late into the night.

    Local fen organized a costume contest at the neighborhood bookstore.

    UsageA plural like men: one fan, several fen; outside fandom, fans is the usual word.

    Similarfans, enthusiasts

    Note

    Fandom's own plural, built on the pattern of man and men: one fan, several fen. Winthrop Sargeant was already reporting it in Life in 1951, along with the playful pairing "fen and fenne". It was still current in 2016 talk about Worldcon arrangements, as in "disabled fen".

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Fen is a plural of fan formed by analogy with man/men. en.wikipedia.org
    • Winthrop Sargeant used fen and the pairing "fen and fenne" in Life in 1951. en.wiktionary.org
    • The phrase "disabled fen" appeared in a 2016 discussion of Worldcon arrangements. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    A mildew that forms on growing hop plants.
    Among these are reckoned the wire worm; the flea, and the fly; the fen or mould; the mildew ; and what are usually called fire blasts.
    1808, Thomas Potts, The British Farmer's Cyclopaedia or
    Note

    A farmer's word that survives only in old husbandry manuals. It comes from a Kentish Middle English form of Old English fyne, "moisture, mold, mildew", so it is at most a distant relative of the wetland. Writers paired it with mould, as in "the fen or mould" and "mouldy fen". John Marius Wilson's Rural Cyclopedia (1847–49) says it thrives on low, moist, sheltered hop grounds.

  2. 5
    interjectionobsolete
    A call in children's games that blocks or forestalls a move by another player; a check.
    Note

    A forbidding cry from old children's games, called out to stop a rival's move before it happened. Its etymology points toward fend, the word for warding something off, which fits its use as a spoken barrier.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  3. 6
    nounslang
    An informal, shortened name for the fennec fox, a small big-eared fox native to North African deserts.

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Origins

Meaning 1

From Middle English fen, from Old English fenn ("fen, marsh, mud, dirt"), from Proto-Germanic *fanją and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *pen- ("bog, mire"), with cognates such as Dutch veen and German Fenn.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

Meaning 2

From Chinese 分 (fēn), and a doublet of hoon and fan.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

Meaning 3

Formed from fan on the pattern of man and its plural men.

Meaning 5

Perhaps related to fend, "to ward off."

Meaning 4

Old English fyne, meaning "moisture, mold, mildew," came from Proto-Germanic *funiz ("moisture, mold") and became Middle English *fine. In Kent the form was *vene, and fen in this sense comes from that Kentish variant.