fernlike
noun
any seedless, nonflowering vascular plant of the class Filicinae, of tropical to temperate regions, characterized by true roots produced from a rhizome, triangular fronds that uncoil upward and have a branching vein system, and reproduction by spores contained in sporangia that appear as brown dots on the underside of the fronds.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English ferne, Old English fearn; cognate with German Farn fern, Sanskrit parná feather
before 900; Middle English ferne, Old English fearn; cognate with German Farn fern, Sanskrit parná feather
Related forms
fern·less, adjective
fern·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To fernlike
00:10
Fernlike
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
fern (fɜːn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | See also tree fern any tracheophyte plant of the phylum Filicinophyta, having roots, stems, and fronds and reproducing by spores formed in structures (sori) on the fronds |
| 2. | any of certain similar but unrelated plants, such as the sweet fern |
| [Old English fearn; related to Old High German farn, Sanskrit parná leaf] | |
| 'fernlike | |
| —adj | |
| 'ferny | |
| —adj | |
| fern (fɜːn) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | See also tree fern any tracheophyte plant of the phylum Filicinophyta, having roots, stems, and fronds and reproducing by spores formed in structures (sori) on the fronds |
| 2. | any of certain similar but unrelated plants, such as the sweet fern |
| [Old English fearn; related to Old High German farn, Sanskrit parná leaf] | |
| 'fernlike | |
| —adj | |
| 'ferny | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
fern
O.E. fearn, from P.Gmc. *farnan (cf. M.Du. varn, Ger. Farn), from PIE *porno-, a root which has yielded words for "feather, wing" (cf. Skt. parnam "feather;" Lith. papartis "fern;" Russ. paporot; Gk. pteris "fern," pteron "feather"), from base *per- (see petition). Applied
to the plant perhaps from the feather-like appearance of the fronds. The plant's ability to appear as if from nothing accounts for the ancient belief that fern seeds conferred invisibility.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
fern  (fûrn) Pronunciation Key
Any of numerous seedless vascular plants belonging to the phylum Pterophyta that reproduce by means of spores and usually have feathery fronds divided into many leaflets. Most species of ferns are homosporous (producing only one kind of spore). The haploid spore grows into a small, usually flat gametophyte known as a prothallus, which is undifferentiated into roots, stems, and leaves. The green prothallus anchors itself with hairlike extensions known as rhizoids and bears both archegonia (organs producing female gametes) and antheridia (organs producing male gametes). The male gametes require the presence of water to swim to the female gametes and fertilize the eggs. Normally only one embryo is produced, and it then grows out of the gametophyte plant as a diploid sporophyte plant that has roots, stems, and leaves and conducts photosynthesis, while the smaller gametophyte withers away. The leaves of these sporophytes eventually produce sporangia (in some species occurring in clusters known as sori). Under dry conditions, the sori burst releasing hundreds of thousands or millions of spores. Ferns were abundant in the Carboniferous period and exist today in about 11,000 species, about three-quarters of which live in tropical climates. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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