A ferry is a boat or ship that regularly carries people, cars, or goods across a body of water. It usually follows a fixed route and schedule, like a bus on the water.
It comes from Old English “ferian,” meaning “to carry” or “to transport,” especially across water. This is related to old Germanic words for traveling and carrying loads.
The word “ferry” is a close cousin of “ferrying” things in general—moving them from one side to another. Even in computing, we now “ferry” data across networks, echoing this ancient idea of shuttling things over a gap.
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