fardel
/ˈfɑː(ɹ)dəl/
fardel noun: a fourth part: a quarter of anything.
Noun (1)
fardel (plural fardels)
- A fourth part: a quarter of anything.
- I... bought a Farthel of Bread and a Mutckin of Ale.c. 1666, W. Sutherland in R. Wodrow's The history of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restauration to the Revolution, volume I, Appendix: page 101
- Synonyms:
- quarter
- An English unit of land area variously understood as the fourth part of an oxgang or of a yardland.
- You must note, that two Fardells of Land make a Nooke of Land, and two Nookes make halfe a Yard of Land.a. 1634, W. Noye, The Complete Lawyer, section 57
- Fardel of Land, the fourth part of a Yard-land.1706, Phillips's New World of Words
Noun (2)
fardel (plural fardels)
- A bundle or burden.
- Hees forc't to trot with fardle at his backe, / From houſe to houſe, demaunding if they lacke / A poore yong man that's willing to take paine, / And mickle labour, though for little gaine.1597–1598, T[homas] M[iddleton], “Satyre 2. Prodigall Zodon.”, in Micro-cynicon: Sixe Snarling Satyres. […], imprinted at London: By Thomas Creede, for Thomas Bushell, […], published 1599, →OCLC...
- [W]ho would fardels beare / To grunt and ſweat vnder a wearie life, / But that the dread of ſomething after death, / The vndiſcouer'd country, from whoſe borne / No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, / And makes vs rather beare thoſe ills we haue, / Then flie to others that we know not of.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
Verb
fardel (third-person singular simple present fardels, present participle (US) fardeling or (UK) fardelling, simple past and past participle (US) fardeled or (UK) fardelled)
- To make up in fardels; to bunch.
- Here are foure vntruths fardelled vp together1607, Andrew Willet, Loidoromastix
Examples of fardel in a sentence
- This to the shunless fardel of the world / Nerves my uncurbèd back; […]1897, Francis Thompson, “[Miscellaneous Odes.] An Anthem of Earth.”, in New Poems, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Co....
- “My dear Lord is then truly and honestly rid of his fardel.”1954, Anya Seyton, Katherine:
Synonyms of fardel
Forms of fardel
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fardels |
| alternative form | farthel |
| alternative form | farl |
| alternative form | fardle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fardels |
| present participle US | fardeling |
| present participle UK | fardelling |
| past participle US | fardeled |
| past US | fardeled |
| past participle UK | fardelled |
| past UK | fardelled |
Origin of fardel
A clipped form of Middle English ferthendel (literally “fourth part”), equivalent to fourth + deal. Cognate with Dutch vierendeel (“a fourth part, quarter”), German Viertel (“a quarter, fourth”), Danish fjerdedel (“a quarter”), Swedish fjärdedel (“a fourth, quarter”).
From Middle English fardel, from Old French fardel (“pack, bundle”), from Spanish fardel, diminutive of fardo (“pack, bundle”), from Arabic فَرْد (fard, “one of a pair”), as applied to saddlebags.
Words formed from fardel
Questions about fardel
- What does fardel mean?
- Fardel means a fourth part: a quarter of anything.
- How do you use fardel in a sentence?
- This to the shunless fardel of the world / Nerves my uncurbèd back; […]
- What part of speech is fardel?
- Fardel can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce fardel?
- Fardel is pronounced /ˈfɑː(ɹ)dəl/.
- What is the plural of fardel?
- The plural of fardel is fardels.
Words near fardel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fardel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fardel.wav.
Cite this entry: “fardel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fardel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.