ford

ford

See also: Ford, förd, forð, ford., and forð-

English

Alternative forms

• foorth (obsolete, [14th century])

Etymology

From Middle English ford, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”).

Cognate with firth and fjord (via Old Norse), Low German Föörd, Dutch voord, German Furt, Norwegian and Danish fjord, and more distantly with English port (via Latin). See also forth and Persian پل‎.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔɹd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːd/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /fo(ː)ɹd/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /foəd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d

Noun

ford (plural fords)

1. A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, OCLC 270129616:

     He swam the Esk river where ford there was none.

2. A stream; a current.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 34:

     With water of the ford / Or of the clouds.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:

     Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford.

Derived terms

• Brentford
• Camelford
• Chandler's Ford
• Colyford
• Crayford
• Dartford
• fordless
• Kentford
• Latchford
• Old Ford
• Oxford
• Stakeford
• Tideford
• Yeoford

 

Translations

crossing

Afrikaans: drif Albanian: va (sq) f or m Arabic: مَخاضَة‎ f (maḵāḍa), مَخاض‎ f pl (maḵāḍ), مَخاوِض‎ f pl (maḵāwiḍ), مَخاضات‎ f pl Armenian: ծանծաղուտ (hy) (cancałut) Azerbaijani: çay keçidi Bashkir: кисеү (kisew) Basque: ibi Belarusian: брод m (brod) Breton: roudouz (br) ? Bulgarian: брод m (brod) Catalan: gual (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 淺灘／浅滩 (zh) (qiǎntān), 津 (zh) (jīn) Crimean Tatar: keçit Czech: brod (cs) m Danish: vadested (da) n Dutch: voorde (nl) c, doorwaardbare plaats c Esperanto: vadejo (eo) Estonian: koolmekoht (et) Faroese: vað n Finnish: kahlaamo (fi), kahlauspaikka, kahluupaikka (fi) French: gué (fr) m Friulian: vât m, vâd m Galician: vao (gl) m, abanqueiro (gl) m, porto (gl) m Georgian: ფონი (poni) German: Furt (de) f Hebrew: מעבר‎ (he) m (maavár) Hungarian: gázló (hu) Icelandic: vað (is) n Ido: vadeyo (io) Irish: áth m Old Irish: áth m Italian: guado (it) m Japanese: 浅瀬 (ja) (あさせ, asase), 洗い越し (あらいごし, araigoshi) Karachay-Balkar: кёчюу (köçüu) Kazakh: өткел (ötkel) Khakas: кичіг (kiçìg) Kumyk: гечив (geçiw) Kyrgyz: кечүү (keçüü) Latin: vadum (la) n Latvian: brasls m Lithuanian: brasta f Low German: German Low German: Föörd Macedonian: брод m (brod) Malay: tohor, tohor sungai Manchu: ᡩᠣᡤᠣᠨ (dogon) Maori: kauranga, kauanga Nogai: кешуьв (keşüv) Norwegian: vadeplass m, vadested n Persian: فرناد‎ (fa) (farnâd), پایاب‎ (fa) (pâyâb), گدار‎ (fa) (godâr) Polish: bród (pl) m Portuguese: vau (pt), passo (pt) m Romanian: vad (ro) n Russian: брод (ru) m (brod), перепра́ва (ru) f (perepráva) Scottish Gaelic: àth m Serbo-Croatian: gaz (sh) m Cyrillic: бро̑д m, га̑з m Roman: brȏd (sh) m, gȃz (sh) m Shor: кежиг (kežig) Slovak: brod (sk) m Slovene: brod m Southern Altai: кечӱ (kečü) Spanish: vado (es) m Swedish: vadställe (sv) n Tagalog: dabaw Tatar: кичү (kiçü) Tofa: кеъһиғ (ke"hiġ) Tuvan: кежиг (kejig) Ukrainian: брід (uk) m (brid) Uzbek: kechik (uz) Uyghur: كېچىك‎ (këchik), кечик (këchik) Vietnamese: chỗ cạn Welsh: rhyd (cy) f

Verb

ford (third-person singular simple present fords, present participle fording, simple past and past participle forded)

A woman fording a river in Uganda (1)

1. To cross a stream using a ford.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

     He named that place, for it was near her dwelling, and on the road between Balerynie and Heriotside, which fords the Sker Burn.

   • 1903, Mary Hunter Austin, The Land of Little Rain, Houghton Mifflin, pp. 31-2,

     Since the time of Seyavi the deer have shifted their feeding ground across the valley at the beginning of deep snows, by way of the Black Rock, fording the river at Charley's Butte, and making straight for the mouth of the cañon that is the easiest going to the winter pastures on Waban.

   • 1982, Nadine Gordimer, "A Hunting Accident" in A Soldier's Embrace, Penguin, p. 59,

     Ratau drove with reckless authority through the quiet morning fires of his father's and forefathers' town and forded a river of goats on the road leading out of it.

   • 2016, Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd, "EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2016" in earthsky.org,

     Some who witnessed the 1966 Leonid meteor storm said they felt as if they needed to grip the ground, so strong was the impression of Earth plowing along through space, fording the meteoroid stream.

Derived terms

• fordable
• forder
• fording

 

Translations

to cross a stream

Bashkir: кисеү (kisew), кисеп сығыу (kisep sığıw) Bulgarian: прегазвам (bg) (pregazvam) Chinese: Mandarin: 涉過／涉过 (zh) (shèguò) Czech: brodit, přebrodit Dutch: doorwaden (nl) Esperanto: travadi Finnish: kahlata (fi) French: passer à gué Galician: vadear (gl), abancar Georgian: ფონზე გასვლა (ponze gasvla) German: durchqueren (de) Hebrew: לעבור‎ (laavór) Ido: vadar (io) Italian: guadare (it) Japanese: 渉る (ja), 渡る (ja) Latvian: brist, pārbrist Macedonian: бро́ди (bródi) Norwegian: vade Polish: przeprawić (pl) Portuguese: vadear (pt) Russian: переходи́ть вброд impf (perexodítʹ vbrod), перейти́ вброд pf (perejtí vbrod) Serbo-Croatian: pregaziti (sh), prebroditi (sh) Spanish: vadear (es)

Anagrams

• dorf

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Old Cornish

Etymology

from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz

Noun

ford

1. way

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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz (“ford”). Cognate with Old Frisian ford, Old Saxon ford, Old Dutch ford, Old High German furt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ford/, [forˠd]

Noun

ford m

1. ford

Declension

u-stem

Declension of ford (strong u-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	ford	forda
accusative	ford	forda
genitive	forda	forda
dative	forda	fordum

a-stem

Declension of ford (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	ford	fordas
accusative	ford	fordas
genitive	fordes	forda
dative	forde	fordum

Descendants

• Middle English: ford, furd, foord
  • English: ford
  • Scots: furde, furd, fuird
• ⇒ English: Chelmsford (from a contraction of Ċēolmǣres + ford)
• → Proto-Brythonic: *forð (“road”) (see there for further descendants)

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Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔrd/

Noun

ford

1. Soft mutation of bord.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
bord	ford	mord	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.