Meaning
Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
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).
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2019, 2023.