Fence

How to spell fence

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce fence

What does fence mean?

1. nounA structure of posts and wire, wood, or rails that encloses or divides an area of land.
2. verbTo enclose land with a barrier, or to fight with slender swords as a sport.
3. nounA person who buys and resells stolen property.

Fence in a sentence

• noun

  The neighbours agreed to share the cost of the new fence between their gardens.

• verb

  They plan to fence off the back field before the cattle arrive.

• noun

  The detectives traced the jewellery to a fence operating from a pawn shop.

• noun

  A wooden fence ran the full length of the paddock.

• verb

  She learned to fence at university and still competes most weekends.

• noun

  The gang relied on a single fence to turn their stolen electronics into cash.

Where does fence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Fence began life in the 1300s as a clipped, shortened form of 'defence', so its earliest meaning in English was simply the act of defending or protecting. That parent word traces back to the Latin defendere, meaning 'to ward off' or 'to protect', built from de- 'away' and a root fendere 'to strike'. As the idea narrowed, a fence came to mean a physical structure put up to defend or enclose land, since a barrier protects a property just as a defender protects a person. The same shortening explains the sporting sense: to fence is to defend oneself with a blade, a direct echo of the original 'defence' meaning. The criminal-slang sense, a dealer who buys stolen goods, arose in the 1600s from the idea that such a person offered thieves protection or cover. The dropped opening 'de-' is why the modern spelling looks so short and self-contained.

How the word is built

• fence (a shortened form of 'defence': defend
• -ence)