Added 7 October 2026
feather
/ˈfɛðə/ noun
In Latin: plūma, penna Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about feather at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
verb
Origin
From Middle English fethere, 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 fjær, fjør (“feather”), Norwegian Nynorsk fjøder, fjør (“feather”), Swedish fjäder (“feather”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)