feather – English noun declension

English noun forms of feather

Noun: feather
Singularfeather
Pluralfeathers

Sample Sentences

  • Notice, too, that the shaft is not straight, but bent so that the upper surface of the feather is convex, and the lower concave. [1873, W. K. Brooks, “A Feather”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume IV, page 687:]
  • Big fellows they were, all of them, their barbaric headdresses and grotesquely painted faces, together with their many metal ornaments and gorgeously coloured feathers, adding to their wild, fierce appearance. [1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter V, in The Beasts of Tarzan:]
  • Nesting birds pluck some of their own feathers to line the nest, but feather plucking in pet birds is entirely different. [2000, C. J. Puotinen, The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care, page 362:]
  • Near-synonym: spline
  • I am not of that feather to shake off / My friend when he must need me. [c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:]
  • To some pew purchasers he gave deeds, to others he gave, none, but both were promised security, and both it seems were equally secure, for the pew deed as Mr. Melledge declared to Mr. G. was not worth a feather. [1823, An Ecclesiastical Memoir of Essex Street Religious Society:]
  • Signal M123 is a conventional 3-aspect colour light with three Junction Indicators - commonly known as 'feathers'. [2020 December 30, David Allen, “Unusual signals...: Morpeth Signal M123”, in Rail, page 64:]

Etymology

1. 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”).
2. 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”). Also Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”), Albanian shpend (“bird”), Latin penna (“feather”), Old Armenian թիռ (tʻiṙ, “flight”).
3. The sense correlated with splines and keys (noun sense 4) probably reflects analogy with the fletching sense (noun sense 3). See: Middle English Nouns 'fethere', Old English Nouns 'feþer', Dutch Nouns 'veder', German Nouns 'Feder', Danish Nouns 'fjeder', Faroese Nouns 'fjøður', Icelandic Nouns 'fjöður', Norwegian Bokmål Nouns 'fjær', Swedish Nouns 'fjäder', Latin Nouns 'penna'.

Verbs referencing "feather"

German Nouns Feder, Dutch Nouns veer, Dutch Nouns veder, Old Norse Nouns fjǫðr, Ancient Greek Nouns πτερόν, Norwegian Bokmål Nouns fjær, Danish Nouns fjer, Irish Nouns éan, Norwegian Bokmål Nouns fjør, Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns fjør, Greek Nouns πτηνό.