ferm

See farm.

• IPA^(key): /fɜː(ɹ)m/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m
• Homophone: firm

ferm (countable and uncountable, plural ferms)

1. (obsolete) rent for a farm

   He let his land to ferm.

2. (obsolete) a farm
3. (obsolete) an abode or place of residence
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Out of her fleshly ferme fled to the place of paine..

• REMF, frem

Inherited from Latin firmus.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfɛrm]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈfərm]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfeɾm]

ferm (feminine ferma, masculine plural ferms, feminine plural fermes)

1. firm (steadfast, secure)

   Synonym: fix

2. firm (fixed in opinion)

   Synonym: fix

3. firm (solid, rigid)

• fermament
• fermesa

ferm m (plural ferms)

1. pavement (US), road surface (UK) (paved exterior surface)

• “ferm”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ferm”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “ferm” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ferm” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Sicilian fermu.

• IPA^(key): /fɛrm/

ferm (feminine singular ferma, plural fermi or friem, comparative ifrem)

1. strong, well-built

   Synonym: sħiħ

2. steady, constant
   • 2022, Alfred Massa, Il-Ħarba, Horizons, →ISBN, page 5:

     Dan minħabba l-interess li dejjem wera għat-tagħlim ferm qabel il-Griegi u r-Rumani.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

ferm

1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of ferme (“lease”)

ferm

1. alternative form of ferme (“firm”)

• furm (Tristan, Thomas d'Angleterre)

From Latin firmus.

ferm m (oblique and nominative feminine singular ferme)

1. firm

• enferm
• fermeté, ferté

• Middle French: ferme
  • French: ferme
• → Middle English: ferme, ferm
  • English: firm (remodelled after Latin)
    • → Cantonese: firm
  • Scots: firm (remodelled after Latin)

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛrm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrm
• Syllabification: ferm

Learned borrowing from New Latin fermium.

ferm m inan

1. fermium (transuranic chemical element (symbol Fm) with an atomic number of 100)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ferm m inan

1. (theater) theatrical decoration depicting landscapes or buildings

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ferm f

1. genitive plural of ferma

• ferm in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• ferm in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French ferme.

ferm m or n (feminine singular fermă, masculine plural fermi, feminine and neuter plural ferme)

1. firm

From Middle English ferme, from Anglo-Norman and Old French ferme, from Medieval Latin firma, from Old English fearm (“sustenance, food, supplies”).

• IPA^(key): [fɛrm], [ferm]

ferm (plural ferms)

1. a farm

• “ferm”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Borrowed from French ferme (“firm”). First attested in 1665

Cognate with English firm (adjective).

ferm

1. (archaic) nimble, quick

   Synonyms: flink, hurtig, ivrig, kvick, rask, snabb

   • 1846, Wendela Hebbe et al., “En kärlekshistorie”, in På Divans-Bordet, page 99:

     […] då hörde jag Skratten bakom mig – men jag var den tiden ferm och vig som en olycka, fattade derföre i fönstergallret och klängde mig upp i nischen, samt hoppade ut i den mjuka snön.

     […] then I heard the laughter behind me – but at that time I was nimble and agile as a mishap, therefore I grasped the window grating, clambered up into the niche, and jumped out into the soft snow.

• ferm in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ferm in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)