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firn

American  
[feern] / fɪərn /

noun

  1. névé.

firn British  
/ fɪən /

noun

  1. another name for névé

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
firn Scientific  
/ fîrn /

  1. Granular, partially consolidated snow that has passed through one summer melt season but is not yet glacial ice. Firn becomes glacial ice once it has become impermeable to liquid water.

Etymology

Origin of firn

1850–55; < German (Swiss), noun use of firn last year's, old; cognate with Old English fyrn former, ancient, Gothic fairneis; akin to Old Norse forn ancient. See before

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Ice and firn, or dense snow leftover from previous seasons, also disappeared from the ridge.

From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2022

During large melt events, meltwater on the surface can seep through the snow and into firn, or a layer of compacted snow that is not yet compressed into glacial ice.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 5, 2021

Johnsen, S. J. Stable isotope homogenization of polar firn and ice.

From Nature • Feb. 4, 2018

The deepest layers, which were laid down long before recorded history, are under enormous pressure, and the firn is compressed into ice.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 17, 2016

We were on skis, on a good surface of firn, without sastrugi, and solid—that was certain—for five or six thousand feet down.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.