Dictionary

foehn en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /feɪn/ (US)
• /fɝn/ (US)
• /fɜːn/ (UK)
• /feɪn/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from German Föhn, from Old High German phonno, from Vulgar Latin faōnius, an alteration of Latin favōnius (“west wind”), from Favōnius (“Roman wind god”).

Meanings

1. A warm dry wind blowing down the north sides of the Alps, especially in Switzerland.
   • The foehns of the northern Alps are world-renowned for the formation of thermal belts on the alp terraces above the deep, U-shaped, glaciated valleys. Here the foehn phenomenon was first identified and the German word for "fall" or "descent" applied to it. 1985, Paul E. Lydolph, The Climate of the Earth, Rowman & Littlefield, page 161:
   • The foehn and the sun must have awakened the spirits of spring way up in the heights. 1971, WW Kibler, translating Gian Fontana, ‘The Mayor of Valdei’, in Bezzola (ed.), The Curly-Horned Cow, Peter Owen 1971, p. 71
2. A similar katabatic wind developing on the lee side of a mountain.
   • This is particularly noticeable in Foehn winds—warm winds that descend from mountainous areas down to areas of lower elevation. Wind patterns considered Foehn include the dry southerly wind blowing through the Alps, Switzerland and across southern Germany. The Sharav or Hamsin winds blowing through the desert in the Middle East are also Foehn winds. The Sirocco winds that blow through Italy and the Mistral winds that blow through southern France are both considered Foehns. 2013, Case Adams Naturopath, Asthma Solved Naturally, Logical Books, page 111:
   • The foehn, I learned, was first recorded in the Alps but is found all over the world. The Santa Anas contain the occasional foehn, nicknamed “murder winds” and immortalized in Joan Didion's 1965 essay “Los Angeles Notebook" 2011, Claire Dederer, Poser: A Mother's Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, Bloomsbury, page 261:

Forms

Deriveds

foehnlike

Relateds

chinook

Translations (33)

pl fen (any similar wind) · nn fønvind (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · ru фён (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · nb fønvind (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · da føn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · el φόεν (any similar wind) · nan-hbl 火燒風 /火烧风 (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · nb føn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · pl fen (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · sk föhn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · vi gió phơn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · cs fén (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · fi föhn-tuuli (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · cmn 焚風 /焚风 (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · cmn 焚風 /焚风 (any similar wind) · nn føn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · ru фён (any similar wind) · fi föhn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · gsw Föön (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · hu főn (any similar wind) · kl nunasarneq (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · it favonio (any similar wind) · fr foehn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · de Föhn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · nl föhn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · cs fén (any similar wind) · da føn (any similar wind) · it favonio (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · it föhn (any similar wind) · nl föhnwind (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · hu főn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · it föhn (warm dry wind blowing down the northern sides of the Alps) · fi föhn-tuuli (any similar wind)