US /ˈfɛð.ɚ/ UK /ˈfɛð.ə(ɹ)/
noun verb Freq #6953

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    One of the light, soft structures that cover a bird's body.

    A bright red feather lay on the path through the woods.

  2. 2
    verb

    To arrange or shape something so it looks like feathers.

    The stylist feathered her hair around her face.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
plumaplume
Word family
Forms featheredfeatheringfeathers
Derived forms afterfeatherbefeathercock-featherdefeatherfeather-bedfeather-brainfeather-brainedfeather-dustfeather-grassfeather-headedfeather-heeledfeather-light
Related forms fletchings

Etymology

From Middle English feþer, from Old English feþer, from Proto-West Germanic *feþru, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). Cognate with West Frisian fear (“feather”), Cimbrian bèdara, fòdara (“pillowcase”), vèdara (“feather”), Dutch veder, veer (“feather”), German Feder (“feather”), German Low German Fedder (“feather”), Luxembourgish Fieder (“feather”), Vilamovian faoder (“feather”), Yiddish פֿעדער (feder, “feather”), Danish fjeder, fjer (“feather”), Faroese fjøður (“feather”), Icelandic fjöður (“feather”), Norwegian Bokmål fjæ…

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Topics

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