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, fjord, and fjard (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 (pol).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔɹd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /fo(ː)ɹd/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /foəd/
• 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:

     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, 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:

     Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford.

Derived terms

• Allerford
• Bathford
• Bedford
• Bradford
• Brentford
• Camelford
• Chandler's Ford
• Chelmsford
• Colyford
• Cranford
• Crayford
• Dartford
• Eaton Ford
• fordless
• Guildford
• Hartford, Hertford
• Hereford
• Ilford
• Kentford
• Latchford
• Old Ford
• Oxford
• Rocky Ford
• Romford
• Stakeford
• Stamford, Stanford
• Stratford, Stretford
• 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) (cancaġut)
• Azerbaijani: çay keçidi, dayaz yer, bərə (az)
• Bashkir: кисеү (kisew)
• Basque: ibi
• Belarusian: брод m (brod)
• Breton: roudouz (br) ?, red (br) f
• 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)
• Hindi: पाँझ (hi) (pāñjh), पायाब (hi) (pāyāb), घाट (hi) (ghāṭ)
• Hungarian: gázló (hu), átjáró (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)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بوار (biwar)

• Kyrgyz: кечүү (kecüü)
• Latin: vadum (la) n
• Latvian: brasls m
• Lithuanian: brasta f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Föörd

• Macedonian: брод (mk) m (brod)
• Malay: tohor, tohor sungai
• Manchu: ᡩᠣᡤᠣᠨ (dogon)
• Maori: kauranga, kauanga
• Nogai: кешуьв (keşüv)
• Norwegian: vadeplass m, vadested n
• Old Czech: břístie n
• Persian: فرناد (fa) (farnâd), پایاب (fa) (pâyâb), گدار (fa) (godâr)
• Polish: bród (pl) m
• Portuguese: vau (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)
• Uyghur: كېچىك (këchik), кечик (këchik)
• Uzbek: kechik (uz)
• Vietnamese: chỗ cạn
• Welsh: rhyd (cy) f

stream; current

• German: Fjord (de) m (usually one in Scandinavia)

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.
   • 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^[1], Houghton Mifflin, pages 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, page 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, [2]

     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

Old Cornish

Etymology

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

Noun

ford

1. way

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

Declension of ford (strong u-stem)

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

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)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔrd/

Noun

ford

1. Soft mutation of bord.

Mutation

Mutated forms of bord

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
bord	ford	mord	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.