Word.ws English Dictionary

fenny

Syllables: fen·ny/ˈfɛni/

fenny adjective: characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens. Also the alternative form of fennie.

fenny: characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below...
Image: Goldmull, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

fenny (comparative more fenny, superlative most fenny)

  1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
    • [I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places.1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Nynth Booke of the Seconde Decade, of the Supposed Continent”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the...
    • [F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]1624, Richard Grenville, “A Briefe Relation Written by Captaine Smith to His Maiesties Commissioners for the Reformation of Virginia, Concerning Some Aspersions against It”, in Iohn [i.e., John]...
  2. Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen.
    • A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome.1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge […], London: […] Edouardi Whytchurch, →OCLC
    • Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake: […]c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  3. (also, figuratively, obsolete) Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy.
    • Lord vvhat a nothing is this little Span, / VVe call a Man! / VVhat fenny traſh maintaines the ſmooth'ring fires / Of his desires!1635, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Canto XIV. Pro[verbs] XXIV. XVI.”, in Emblemes, London: […] G[eorge] M[iller] and sold at at Iohn Marriots shope […], →OCLC, book II, stanza 4, page 118

Proper noun capitalized: Fenny

Fenny

  1. A female given name, short for Fenella.

Also used as

fenny is also the alternative form of fennie.

Examples of fenny in a sentence

  • Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.1661, Robert Lovell, “Tetrapodologia. Of Fourfooted Beasts.”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A...
  • It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses.1712 June 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “SUNDAY, June 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 406; republished in Alexander...
  • Of the Indian Dragons there are alſo ſaid to be tvvo kindes, one of them fenny, and liuing in the Marſhes, vvhich are ſlovv of pace and vvithout combes on their heades like females: […]1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Dragon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William...
  • Godvvit. […] they are a fenny fovvl, and live of VVorms, about River banks: […]1661, Robert Lovell, “Ornithologia. Of Birds. [Brids^([sic – meaning Birds]) Lesse Used in Meat or Medicine.]”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ...

Synonyms of fenny

18 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of fenny

Forms of fenny

Adjective
comparativemore fenny
superlativemost fenny
Noun
pluralfennies

Origin of fenny

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).

Words formed from fenny

Words that rhyme with fenny

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fenny

What does fenny mean?
Fenny means characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
How do you use fenny in a sentence?
Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.
What part of speech is fenny?
Fenny can be an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce fenny?
Fenny is pronounced /ˈfɛni/ (UK).

Words near fenny in the dictionary

  1. Fennophile
  2. Fennophiles
  3. Fennoscandia
  4. Fennoscandian
  5. Fennoscandians
  6. fenny
  7. Fenny Bridges
  8. Fenny Compton
  9. Fenny Stratford
  10. fenobam
  11. fenobucarb

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fenny (page history and authors); Fenny (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-fenny.wav.

Cite this entry: “fenny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fenny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.