Fen vs Mire - What's the difference?
fen | mire |
a type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline
* 1842 ,
a plural form of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.
* 1951 , Winthrop Sargeant, Through the Interstellar Looking Glass'' (in ''Life magazine, 21 May 1951)
Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
* When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was invisible to all eyes but Prospero’s) would come slyly and pinch him, and sometimes tumble him down in the mire .'' (, ''Tales from Shakespeare , Hatier, coll. « Les Classiques pour tous » n° 223, p. 51)
An undesirable situation, a predicament.
To weigh down.
To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
To soil with mud or foul matter.
* Shakespeare
As a noun mire is
.fen
English
(wikipedia fen)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) ).Noun
(en noun)- In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp / The hunted Negro lay; [...]
Derived terms
* fenlike * fennishSee also
* bog * everglade * marsh * swamp * wetlandEtymology 2
From (fan), by analogy with (men) as the plural of (man).Noun
fen' (p) (''singular:'' ' fan )- Sad to relate, however, some of the European delegates were probably insurgents rather than true fen .
Coordinate terms
* fenneDerived terms
* actifen * confen * eofen * fakefen * femme fen * femfen * femmefen * fringefen * litfen * mediafen * neofen * passifen * stfen * trufan * zinefen ----mire
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) , whence Old English mos (English moss).Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* (deep mud) peatland, quagHypernyms
* (deep mud) wetlandHyponyms
* (deep mud) bog, fenDerived terms
* mire crow * mire drum * miry * in the mire * quagmireVerb
(mir)- to mire a horse or wagon
- Smirched thus and mired with infamy.