Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

A.Word.A.Day--fen

fen (fen) noun

1. Low land covered with water.
2. A marsh.

[From Middle English, from Old English fen or fenn.]

"In the Netherlands, large tracts of former intensively cultivated arable land has been returned to fen."
Peter Marren; Science and Nature: Water World; Independent (London, UK); Sep 16, 2002.

"Central Park and the city have long since rebounded. But Olmsted & Vaux's masterpiece of earthwork art -- 843 acres of painstakingly carved forests, dales, lakes and grottos now celebrating its 150th anniversary -- has often been torn between beauty and the beast, a once-stinking fen refashioned into a resplendent oasis and yet still prey to despoliation and nightmarish crime."
Ralph Blumenthal; Gun-Toting Sea Lions And Other Park Tales; The New York Times; May 23, 2003.

This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words

X-Bonus