Firn Definition

fîrn
noun
The granular snow, not in a completely compacted mass, that accumulates at the top of a glacier.
Webster's New World

A type of old snow which has gone through multiple thaw and refreeze cycles and thus is made of numerous small icy grains, though it is not nearly as saturated with water as snow-cone slush is; can be hard or somewhat soft depending on recent and current weather conditions.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Firn

Noun

Singular:
firn
Plural:
firns

Origin of Firn

  • Borrowing from German Firn, from Alemannic German firn (“last year's”), from Old High German firni (“old”), from Proto-Germanic *firnijaz, *fernaz (“foregoing, previous”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forth, forward, across, through”); cognate with Old English fyrn (“former”), Old Norse forn (“old”), and Gothic (fairneis, “old”).

    From Wiktionary

  • German from German dialectal of last year from Old High German firni old

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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