"fers" meaning in Middle English

See fers in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /feːrs/
Etymology: Borrowed from Old French fers, fiers, nominative of fer, fier, from Latin ferus. The form fuerse, furse possibly indicates a pronunciation such as /føːrs/ or /fyːrs/, with rounding of /eː/ due to the surrounding /f/ and /r/. Etymology templates: {{etymid|enm|fierce}}, {{bor+|enm|fro|fers}} Borrowed from Old French fers, {{der|enm|la|ferus}} Latin ferus Head templates: {{head|enm|adjective|plural and weak singular|ferse||{{{2}}}||{{{3}}}|head=}} fers (plural and weak singular ferse), {{enm-adj|ferse}} fers (plural and weak singular ferse) Forms: ferse [plural], ferse [singular, weak], feers [alternative], ferce [alternative], ferse [alternative], fiers [alternative], fierse [alternative], firs [alternative], fyers [alternative], fyerse [alternative], fuerse [alternative], furse [alternative], frese [alternative]
  1. brave, bold
    Sense id: en-fers-enm-adj-MjYMvwny
  2. arrogant, haughty
    Sense id: en-fers-enm-adj-YPU-mvsW
  3. fierce, savage
    Sense id: en-fers-enm-adj-c0jInohX Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header, Violence Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 30 2 41 13 14 Disambiguation of Violence: 28 0 40 21 11
  4. severe, devastating
    Sense id: en-fers-enm-adj-uA2rA65-
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: fersly, fersnesse
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /feːrs/ Forms: ferses [plural], ffers [alternative]
Etymology: Borrowed from Old French fierce, from Medieval Latin ferzia, from Persian فرزین (farzin). Etymology templates: {{etymid|enm|chess piece}}, {{bor+|enm|fro|fierce}} Borrowed from Old French fierce, {{der|enm|la-med|ferzia}} Medieval Latin ferzia, {{der|enm|fa|فرزین|tr=farzin}} Persian فرزین (farzin) Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|g=|g2=|g3=|head=|sort=}} fers, {{enm-noun|ferses}} fers (plural ferses)
  1. queen (chess piece) or predecessor thereof
    Sense id: en-fers-enm-noun--GSsZSe0 Categories (other): Chess, Emotions Disambiguation of Chess: 1 0 1 0 98 Disambiguation of Emotions: 29 0 30 0 41
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "fersly"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "fersnesse"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "fierce"
    },
    {
      "lang": "Yola",
      "lang_code": "yol",
      "word": "fearse"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fierce"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "fers"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French fers",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ferus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ferus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French fers, fiers, nominative of fer, fier, from Latin ferus.\nThe form fuerse, furse possibly indicates a pronunciation such as /føːrs/ or /fyːrs/, with rounding of /eː/ due to the surrounding /f/ and /r/.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "weak"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "feers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferce",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fierse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "firs",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fyers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fyerse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fuerse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "furse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frese",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adjective",
        "3": "plural and weak singular",
        "4": "ferse",
        "5": "",
        "6": "{{{2}}}",
        "7": "",
        "8": "{{{3}}}",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural and weak singular ferse)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ferse"
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural and weak singular ferse)",
      "name": "enm-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "brave, bold"
      ],
      "id": "en-fers-enm-adj-MjYMvwny",
      "links": [
        [
          "brave",
          "brave"
        ],
        [
          "bold",
          "bold"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "arrogant, haughty"
      ],
      "id": "en-fers-enm-adj-YPU-mvsW",
      "links": [
        [
          "arrogant",
          "arrogant"
        ],
        [
          "haughty",
          "haughty"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "30 2 41 13 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 0 40 21 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Violence",
          "orig": "enm:Violence",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "fierce, savage"
      ],
      "id": "en-fers-enm-adj-c0jInohX",
      "links": [
        [
          "fierce",
          "fierce"
        ],
        [
          "savage",
          "savage"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "severe, devastating"
      ],
      "id": "en-fers-enm-adj-uA2rA65-",
      "links": [
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ],
        [
          "devastating",
          "devastating"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/feːrs/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fers"
}

{
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "word": "fers"
    },
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "word": "ferz"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "chess piece"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "fierce"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French fierce",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la-med",
        "3": "ferzia"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin ferzia",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fa",
        "3": "فرزین",
        "tr": "farzin"
      },
      "expansion": "Persian فرزین (farzin)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French fierce, from Medieval Latin ferzia, from Persian فرزین (farzin).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ferses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ffers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "fers",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ferses"
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural ferses)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "1 0 1 0 98",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Chess",
          "orig": "enm:Chess",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 0 30 0 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Emotions",
          "orig": "enm:Emotions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "queen (chess piece) or predecessor thereof"
      ],
      "id": "en-fers-enm-noun--GSsZSe0"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/feːrs/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fers"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English adjectives",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English nouns",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Persian",
    "Pages with 8 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "enm:Chess",
    "enm:Emotions",
    "enm:Violence"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "fersly"
    },
    {
      "word": "fersnesse"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "fierce"
    },
    {
      "lang": "Yola",
      "lang_code": "yol",
      "word": "fearse"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fierce"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "fers"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French fers",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ferus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ferus",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French fers, fiers, nominative of fer, fier, from Latin ferus.\nThe form fuerse, furse possibly indicates a pronunciation such as /føːrs/ or /fyːrs/, with rounding of /eː/ due to the surrounding /f/ and /r/.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "weak"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "feers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferce",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ferse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fiers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fierse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "firs",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fyers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fyerse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fuerse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "furse",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "frese",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adjective",
        "3": "plural and weak singular",
        "4": "ferse",
        "5": "",
        "6": "{{{2}}}",
        "7": "",
        "8": "{{{3}}}",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural and weak singular ferse)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ferse"
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural and weak singular ferse)",
      "name": "enm-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "brave, bold"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "brave",
          "brave"
        ],
        [
          "bold",
          "bold"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "arrogant, haughty"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "arrogant",
          "arrogant"
        ],
        [
          "haughty",
          "haughty"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "fierce, savage"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fierce",
          "fierce"
        ],
        [
          "savage",
          "savage"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "severe, devastating"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ],
        [
          "devastating",
          "devastating"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/feːrs/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fers"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English nouns",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Persian",
    "Pages with 8 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "enm:Chess",
    "enm:Emotions",
    "enm:Violence"
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "word": "fers"
    },
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "word": "ferz"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "chess piece"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "fierce"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French fierce",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la-med",
        "3": "ferzia"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin ferzia",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fa",
        "3": "فرزین",
        "tr": "farzin"
      },
      "expansion": "Persian فرزین (farzin)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French fierce, from Medieval Latin ferzia, from Persian فرزین (farzin).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ferses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ffers",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "fers",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ferses"
      },
      "expansion": "fers (plural ferses)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "queen (chess piece) or predecessor thereof"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/feːrs/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fers"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fers meaning in Middle English (4.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-20 using wiktextract (cdfa371 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.