Etymology
1. O.E.
feðer "feather," in pl., "wings," from Gmc.
*fethro (cf. O.N.
fjöðr, M.Du.
vedere, Ger.
Feder), from PIE
*petra-, zero degree
*ptera- "wing, feather," from base
*pet- "to rush, to fly" (see petition). To
feather one's nest "enrich oneself" is from 1583.
Feather-headed "silly" is from 1647.
Feather-weight, the lightest allowable, is first recorded 1812, originally in horse-racing; boxing use dates from 1889.
2. 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”).
3. 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”).
4. The sense correlated with splines and keys (noun sense 4) probably reflects analogy with the fletching sense (noun sense 3). See: Greek, Ancient '
πέτομαι'.
Verbs referencing "feather"
Greek, Ancient
πέτομαι.