fer

fer

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Feroge.

• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /fə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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fer

1. (dialectal, especially British) Pronunciation spelling of for.
   • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

     “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”

   • 1957 January 18, Sally, quoting a villager, “For Ladies Only …”, in Mt. Vernon Register-News, volume XXXVII, number 93, Mount Vernon, Ill., →OCLC, page 7, column 5:

     This mornin’ she rails out at me fer dunkin’ my cooky and she says COFFEE IS FER SIPPIN’ AND NOT FER SAUCERIN’ . . .

   • 1997, J.K. Rowling, chapter IV, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone:

     ‘Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it’ll taste all right.’

• “fer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• REF, RFE, Ref, Ref., erf, ref

From Latin facere.

fer

1. to do

Inherited from Latin facere.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfe]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfeɾ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

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fer (first-person singular present faig, first-person singular preterite fiu, past participle fet)

1. to make, produce

   Fer vinagre. ― To make vinegar.

   Aquesta terra fa molt bon blat. ― This land produces very good wheat.

   Quatre i quatre fan vuit. ― Four and four make eight.

   Fer d'un enemic un aliat. ― To turn an enemy into an ally.

   Fer olor de roses. ― To smell of rose.

   Fer pudor de porcs. ― To stink of pig.

   (idiomatic) Fer bondat ― to behave, to comply with one's duty (an idiom, literally to make goodness)

   (idiomatic) Fer figa ― to fail to achieve an expected result (an idiom, literally to make fig)

2. to make up

   Els jubilats fan un quart de la població. ― Retired people make up a quarter of the population.

3. to do, to cause to be done
4. to make do
5. to give

   El primer marit li va fer dos fills. ― Her first husband gave her two sons.

   Feu-me mig quilo de formatge. ― Give me half a kilo of cheese.

   Fes-me un petó! ― Kiss me!

6. to lay

   La canària ha fet un ou. ― The canary has laid an egg.

7. to cause
8. (auxiliary) to make (someone) (do something), that is auxiliary verb to form the causative together with an infinitive

   em van fer tornar a buscar el rebut ― they made me go back to get the receipt

   l'has feta plorar ― you made her cry

9. to go
10. (impersonal, of weather) to be

    Fa fred! ― It is cold!

    Fa calor! ― It is hot!

    Fa vent! ― It is windy!

11. to play
12. to measure

Balearic uses fais for the second person plural form in the present indicative instead of feu.

Inherited from Latin ferus (compare Occitan fèr, French fier, Spanish fiero), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwer-.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfer]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈfe]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfeɾ]

fer (feminine fera, masculine plural fers, feminine plural feres)

1. wild (untamed, not domesticated)

• “fer”, 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
• “fer”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “fer” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fer” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /feːɹ/
• Homophone: ferð

fer

1. third-person singular present of fara

Inherited from Middle French fer, from Old French fer, from Latin ferrum.

• IPA^(key): /fɛʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Homophones: fers, faire

fer m (plural fers)

1. iron
2. horseshoe; steel tip
3. (golf) iron
4. iron (appliance)
5. (in the plural, archaic) irons, fetters

• Antillean Creole: fè
• Haitian Creole: fè
• Karipúna Creole French: fé
• Louisiana Creole: fèr, fè

• “fer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Compare Pennsylvania German fer, German für and English for.

fer

1. for

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “fer”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

fer

1. inflection of fara:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. third-person singular present indicative

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfɛr]

fer

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of for

fer

1. second-person singular present active imperative of ferō

From Old Irish fer, from Proto-Celtic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós.

• IPA^(key): /fer/

fer m (plural fir)

1. man

   Cha nel mee lowal rish y fer aeg shen. ― I do not approve of that young man.

2. one (modified by an adjective or demonstrative, referring to an object or animal)

   Ta fer jiarg aym. ― I have a red one [e.g. chair].

   Ta mee fakin kiare fir ghlassey. ― I see four green ones [e.g. birds].

   By vie lhiam yn fer shen. ― I would like that one [e.g. toy].

3. used as a dummy noun to support a number, referring to a person, object or animal

   Ta fer ennagh ayns shoh laccal dy akin oo. ― There's a fellow here who wants to see you.

   Ta fer aym. ― I have one [e.g. chair].

   Ta mee fakin kiare fir. ― I see four [e.g. birds].

• dooinney

• ard-er
• fer ynsee

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fer”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From French faire.

fer (medial form fer)

1. To make
2. To do

• kifer

• feor, for, fur, feer, ver, veir, far

From Old English feorr, from Proto-Germanic *ferrai.

• IPA^(key): /fɛr/

fer

1. far, distant
   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “General Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, line 493:

     Wide was hys pariſſhe, & houſes ferre a ſondre […]

     Wide was his parish, and houses far asunder […]

• ferforth
• ferforthly

• English: far
• Scots: faur
• Yola: var

• “fer, adj.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old French fer.

fer m (plural fers)

1. iron (metal)
2. (by extension) (iron) sword

• French: fer (see there for further descendants)

From Old Irish fer, from Primitive Irish *ᚃᚔᚏᚐᚄ (*viras), from Proto-Celtic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸʲeɾ/

fer m (genitive fir, nominative plural fir)

1. man

• c. 1000, anonymous author, edited by Rudolf Thurneysen, Scéla Mucca Meic Dathó, Dublin: Stationery Office, published 1935, § 1, page 2, line 13:

  In fer no·t⟨h⟩ēged iarsint ṡligi do·bered in n-aēl isin coiri, ocus a·taibred din chētgabāil, iss ed no·ithed.

  Each man who came along the way would put the flesh-fork into the cauldron, and whatever he got at the first taking, it was that which he ate. (literally, “The man who…”)

• ferchuitred

• Irish: fear
• Manx: fer
• Scottish Gaelic: fear

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fer”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• faer (Guernsey)
• fé (France, Jersey)

From Old French fer, from Latin ferrum.

fer m (uncountable)

1. (Sark) iron

fer

1. present of fara

fer

1. alternative form of faire

• IPA^(key): /fer/
• Rhymes: -er

fer n (Vespasian Psalter Mercian, late Kentish)

1. alternative form of fær (“way”)

Strong a-stem:

(Vespasian Psalter Mercian)

Strong a-stem:

(late Kentish)

• IPA^(key): /feːr/
• Rhymes: -ēr

fēr m (Anglian, late Kentish)

1. alternative form of fǣr (“danger”)

Strong a-stem:

• IPA^(key): /feːr/
• Rhymes: -ēr

fēr

1. singular imperative of fēran

From Latin ferrum.

fer oblique singular, m (oblique plural fers, nominative singular fers, nominative plural fer)

1. iron (metal)
2. (by extension) sword (made of iron)

• Middle French: fer
  • French: fer (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: fé (France, Jersey), faer (Guernsey), fer (Sark)
• Walloon: fier

From Latin ferum, accusative of ferus (“wild”).

fer m (oblique and nominative feminine singular fere)

1. cruel; harsh
2. fierce; ferocious
   • c. 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire:

     Quatre pez ad la beste, e mult est de fer estre

     Four feet has the beast, and it is of a very ferocious nature

• fier

• Middle French: fier
  • French: fier
• → Middle English: fer
  • English: fere
• → Middle English: fers (from the nominative singular fers)
  • English: fierce
  • Yola: fearse

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “fier”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
• fer on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

From West Proto-Germanic *ferrai, whence also Old English feorr.

fer

1. remote

fer

1. far

• Braune, Wilhelm. Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, zusammengestellt und mit Glossar versehen

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸʲeɾ/

From Primitive Irish *ᚃᚔᚏᚐᚄ (*viras), from Proto-Celtic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognates include Latin vir, Sanskrit वीर (vīrá) and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair).

fer m (genitive fir, nominative plural fir)

1. man
2. husband
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 22^c10

     Is bés trá dosom aní-siu cosc inna mban i tossug et a tabairt fo chumacte a feir, armbat irlamu de ind ḟir fo chumacte Dǽi, co·mbí íarum coscitir ind ḟir et do·airbertar fo réir Dǽ.

     This, then, is a custom of his, to correct the wives at first and to bring them under the power of their husbands, so that the husbands may be the readier under God’s power, so that afterwards the husbands are corrected and bowed down in subjection to God.

• oínḟer

• Middle Irish: fer
  • Irish: fear
  • Manx: fer
  • Scottish Gaelic: fear

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fer”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

fer

1. second-person singular imperative of feraid

·fer

1. third-person singular preterite conjunct of feraid

fer

1. first-person singular present active indicative of fara

• ferr, ferro

• IPA^(key): /fɛr/

From Proto-Germanic *ferro, an old comparative form.

fer

1. far

• Middle Low German: verre

From Proto-Germanic *ferro.

fer

1. far

Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch‎^[1] (in German), 5th edition

Compare German für, Dutch voor, English for, Hunsrik fer.

fer

1. for

• IPA^(key): /fɛr/

fer m

1. iron

fer n (plural feare)

1. alternative form of fier

fer (Puter)

1. alternative form of far (“to do; to make”)

• fere, ferr

• (Hawick) IPA^(key): /ˈfɛr/

fer (comparative ferther, superlative ferthest)

1. (Southern Scots) far

Borrowed from English fair.

fer (Cyrillic spelling фер)

1. fair

fer (Cyrillic spelling фер)

1. fairly

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɾ/ [ˈfeɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: fer

fer (first-person singular present fo, first-person singular preterite fi, past participle fido)

1. obsolete form of hacer

• “fer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• IPA^(key): /vɛr/
• Rhymes: -ɛr

fer

1. soft mutation of ber (“short”)