The story
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: Any plant of the division Pteridophyta, of simple vascular plants that reproduce via spores rather than seeds and that alternate generations of diploid (sporophyte) and haploid (gametophyte or prothallus) forms, the diploid generally being larger and more conspicuous. Full definition →
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.