name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
ferry
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfɛɹi/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈfeɹi/
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Scotland: /ˈfɛɾe/
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Scotland: /ˈfɛɾɪ/
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Scotland: /ˈfɛɾi/
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homophone: fairy (only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
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rhymes with -ɛɹi
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CMU ARPABET: F EH1 R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A census-designated place in Denali Borough, Alaska, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
A township in Oceana County, Michigan, United States, named after Thomas W. Ferry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
An unincorporated community in Greene County, Ohio, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A boat or ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: nautical, transport
Examples
- Near-synonym: ferryboat
- Islanders normally have to queue for half an hour to get on the ferry.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ferryboat
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: boat, ship, watercraft, vessel, vehicle, conveyance
noun
Meaning 6
A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
The service constituted by this watercraft's operation; the business (company) that operates such a service.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- In those days there was a ferry at Sleepytown. Modern roads and bridges for motor vehicles have rendered such local river ferries obsolete.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service: a right of ferry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- granted a ferry to
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To carry; transport; convey.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- Being a good waiter takes more than the ability to ferry plates of food around a restaurant.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 13
transport by boat or aircraft
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ferrying
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: transportation, shipping, transport
noun
Meaning 14
a boat that transports people or vehicles across a body of water and operates on a regular schedule
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ferryboat
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: boat
Narrower terms: car-ferry
verb
Meaning 15
travel by ferry
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: travel, go, move, locomote
verb
Meaning 16
transport by ferry
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: transport
verb
Meaning 17
transport from one place to another
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bring, convey, take
History
Etymology
Two main origins: * A reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fearadhaigh (“descendant of Fearadhach”), a personal name probably derived from an adjective derivative of fear (“man”). * A metonymic occupational surname for a ferryman or a topographic surname for someone who lived by a ferry crossing, from Middle English feri (“ferry”).
The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), whence English fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-. The noun is from Middle English ferie (“place of crossing, ferry”), which was derived from the above verb under influence of Old Norse ferja, from Proto-Germanic *farjǭ, itself also from the verb. False cognate of Latin ferō.
Across languages
Translations
134 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: veer — boat
- Afrikaans: veerboot — boat
- Albanian: trap — boat
- Arabic: مُعَدِّيَة (muʕaddiya) — boat
- Arabic: عَبَّارَة (ʕabbāra) — boat
- Arabic: عبارة (ʕabbāra) — boat
- Armenian: լաստանավ (lastanav) — boat
- Azerbaijani: bərə — boat
- Baekje: 津 (nari) — boat
- Belarusian: паро́м (paróm) — boat
- Bulgarian: фе́рибот (féribot) — boat
- Burmese: ကူးတို့ (ku:tui.) — boat
- Burmese: ကူးတို့ဆိပ် (ku:tui.hcip) — boat
- Catalan: bac — boat
- Catalan: rai — boat
- Chechen: бурам (buram) — boat
- Chinese Mandarin: 渡船 (dùchuán) — boat
- Chinese Mandarin: 渡輪 /渡轮 (dùlún) — boat
- Czech: trajekt — boat
- Czech: přívoz — boat
- Danish: færge — boat
- Dutch: veer — boat
- Dutch: veerpont — boat
- Dutch: pont — boat
- Dutch: pontveer — boat
- Dutch: veerboot — boat
- Dutch: ferry — boat
- Dutch: ferryboot — boat
- Egyptian: DA-A-t:P1 (ḏꜣt) — boat
- Esperanto: pramo — boat
- Estonian: parvlaev — boat
- Estonian: praam — boat
- Finnish: lautta — boat
- Finnish: autolautta — boat
- French: bac — boat
- French: ferry — boat
- French: transbordeur — boat
- West-Frisian: fear — boat
- Galician: transbordador — boat
- Georgian: ბორანი (borani) — boat
- German: Fähre — boat
- Greek: πορθμείο (porthmeío) — boat
- Ancient Greek: πορθμεῖον (porthmeîon) — boat
- Ancient Greek: πέραμα (pérama) — boat
- Hebrew: מעבורת \ מַעְבֹּרֶת (ma'bóret) — boat
- Hindi: फ़ेरी (ferī) — boat
- Hindi: यात्री-नौका (yātrī-naukā) — boat
- Hindi: जलयान (jalyān) — boat
- Hungarian: komp — boat
- Icelandic: ferja — boat
- Indonesian: feri — boat
- Irish: bád calaidh — boat
- Irish: carrchaladh — boat
- Italian: traghetto — boat
- Japanese: フェリー (ferī) — boat
- Japanese: 渡し船 (watashibune) — boat
- Japanese: 渡船 (tosen) — boat
- Kazakh: сал қайық (sal qaiyq) — boat
- Kazakh: паром (parom) — boat
- Khmer: កប៉ាល់ចម្លង (kaʼpal cɑɑmlɑɑng) — boat
- Khmer: ទូកចម្លង (tuuk cɑɑmlɑɑng) — boat
- Korean: 나룻배 (narutbae) — boat
- Korean: 수송선 (susongseon) — boat
- Korean: 연락선 (yeollakseon) — boat
- Korean: 페리 (peri) — boat
- Korean: 나루배 (narubae) — boat
- Kyrgyz: паром (parom) — boat
- Lao: ສັດຈອງ (sat chǭng) — boat
- Latin: pontō — boat
- Latvian: prāmis — boat
- Limburgish: vaer — boat
- Lithuanian: keltas — boat
- Luxembourgish: Fähr — boat
- Macedonian: траект (traekt) — boat
- Malay: feri — boat
- Malayalam: കടത്ത് (kaṭattŭ) — boat
- Māori: waka whakawhiti — boat
- Māori: waka kōpiko — boat
- Mongolian: гаталга онгоц (gatalga ongoc) — boat
- Muna: feri — boat
- Navajo: tsin naaʼeeł diné bee nágéhé — boat
- Norwegian Bokmål: ferge — boat
- Norwegian Bokmål: ferje — boat
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ferje — boat
- Occitan: bac — boat
- Occitan: transbordador — boat
- Occitan: ferri — boat
- Ojibwe: aazhawaʼoodoon — boat
- Old East Slavic: поромъ (poromŭ) — boat
- Pannonian Rusyn: траєкт (trajekt) — boat
- Iranian Persian: فَرابَر (farâbar) — boat
- Iranian Persian: کَشْتیِ گُذارِه (kašti-ye gozâre) — boat
- Plautdietsch: Promm — boat
- Polish: prom — boat
- Portuguese: balsa — boat
- Romanian: bac — boat
- Russian: паро́м (paróm) — boat
- Scottish Gaelic: aiseag — boat
- Serbo-Croatian: тра̀јект — boat
- Serbo-Croatian: ске̏ла — boat
- Serbo-Croatian: tràjekt — boat
- Serbo-Croatian: skȅla — boat
- Slovak: trajekt — boat
- Slovene: trajekt — boat
- Lower Sorbian: pśewóz — boat
- Lower Sorbian: prama — boat
- Spanish: ferri — boat
- Spanish: transbordador — boat
- Swahili: feri — boat
- Swedish: färja — boat
- Tagalog: tabaw — boat
- Tagalog: badeyo — boat
- Tagalog: bangkang pantawid — boat
- Tagalog: ferry — boat
- Tajik: паром (parom) — boat
- Tajik: киштии гузора (kišti-yi guzora) — boat
- Thai: เรือข้ามฟาก (rʉʉa-kâam-fâak) — boat
- Thai: เรือจ้าง (rʉʉa-jâang) — boat
- Thai: เฟอร์รี (fəə-rîi) — boat
- Tibetan: གྲུ་ཤན (gru shan) — boat
- Turkish: araba vapuru — boat
- Turkish: vapur — boat
- Turkish: feribot — boat
- Turkmen: parohod — boat
- Turkmen: parom — boat
- Ukrainian: поро́м (poróm) — boat
- Urdu: فیری (ferī) — boat
- Uyghur: پاروم (parom) — boat
- Uzbek: parom — boat
- Vietnamese: phà — boat
- Volapük: lovenaf — boat
- Yiddish: פּראָם (prom) — boat
- Yiddish: פּאַראָם (parom) — boat
- Ancient Greek: πορθμεῖον (porthmeîon) — place
Real reading context