firn

Borrowed from German Firn, from Alemannic German firn (“last year's”), from Old High German firni (“old”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *firnijaz, *fernaz (“foregoing, previous”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forth, forward, across, through”); cognate with Old English fyrn (“former”), Old Norse forn (“old”), and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐌴𐌹𐍃 (fairneis, “old”).^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɪə(ɹ)n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fɪɹn/, /fɪəɹn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)n

firn (countable and uncountable, plural firns)

1. A type of old snow which has gone through multiple thaw and refreeze cycles and thus is made of numerous small icy grains, though it is not nearly as saturated with water as snowcone slush is; can be hard or somewhat soft depending on recent and current weather conditions.

   Synonym: névé

• firnification

• firn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• NIRF

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɪrn]
• Hyphenation: firn

firn m inan

1. firn

• “firn”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “firn”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From Middle High German virne, from Old High German firni, from Proto-Germanic *fernaz.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɪʁn]

• Audio:

  (file)

firn (strong nominative masculine singular firner, comparative firner, superlative am firnsten)

1. (wine) aged

• Firn
• Firne

• “firn” in Duden online
• “firn” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “firn” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

• IPA^(key): [firn]

firn m inan (relational adjective firnový)

1. firn

• “firn”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025