[Ger. firn, firne, lit. ‘last year’s’ (snow), subst. use of firne adj. ‘of last year’: see FERN a.] A name given to snow above the glaciers which is partly consolidated by alternate thawing and freezing, but has not yet become glacier-ice.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., viii. (1856), 61. The ‘firn,’ or consolidated snow of the Alpine glaciers.
1855. J. D. Forbes, Tour Mt. Blanc, 33. Magnificent is the prospect which these firns sometimes present.
1878. Huxley, Physiography, 155. The imperfectly consolidated substance, partly snow and partly ice, is known in Switzerland as Névé or Firn.
