ferd
/fɜː(ɹ)d/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Scotland/fɛɹd/
ferd noun: a journey; a voyage.
Noun (1)
ferd (plural ferds)
- A journey; a voyage.
- Provisions for a journey, especially food.
- A fast pace; a rush or hurry.
- Effort, impetus, speed; a violent onset.
- It was our great desire to have at once been at handy-strokes, well understanding that the ferd of our hot spirits could not long abide in edge.1775, Baillie, Letters
- A dainty husband, an' the best o' men, Fresh in his eild as the gree simmer glen. An' still he maks a ferd his bread to earn— His aim to hae a canty but-an'-ben, Wi' something aye to spare to ilka bairn, That they the gude auld hospitality might learn.1832, John Nevay, “The Cotter's Birth-Day”, in Margaret De Courcy, Beatrice De Courcy, editors, The Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music, and Romance, page 381
Noun (2)
ferd (usually uncountable, plural ferds)
- Fear.
Adjective (1)
ferd (comparative ferder, superlative ferdest)
- Afraid.
- Out of Deuelin toun, The folk wel fast ran, In a water to droun, So ferd were thai than;c. 13th century, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Tristrem, published 1804
Adjective (2)
ferd (not comparable)
- Fourth.
- George the ferd Erle of Hunlie and second of that name his sone, three. And Jane Gordoun his dochtir, the ferd.1565, Proces of Divorce twixt Erle Bothwell and his Wife
- Gevin vunder our signet, at Edinburgh, the xxiij day of Marche, and of our regnne the ferd yer.1571, J Chepman, Decreet of Spulzie
Forms of ferd
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ferds |
| alternative form | fard |
| alternative form | faird |
| alternative form | faerd |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | ferder |
| superlative | ferdest |
Origin of ferd
From Middle English ferde (“military expedition”), from Old English fierd; see fyrd. Cognate with Dutch vaart (“voyage”), German Fahrt (“journey”).
Inherited from Middle English ferd (“fear, terror”), the past participle of feren (“to frighten”). More at fear.
From Middle English ferthe (“fourth”), from Old English fēorþa, with th-stopping of /ð/ (voiced th) into /d/ (voiced t).
Words that rhyme with ferd
35 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about ferd
- What does ferd mean?
- Ferd means a journey; a voyage.
- What part of speech is ferd?
- Ferd can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce ferd?
- Ferd is pronounced /fɜː(ɹ)d/.
- What is the plural of ferd?
- The plural of ferd is ferds.
Words near ferd in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ferd (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.
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Cite this entry: “ferd.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ferd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.