fee
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English fee, fe, feh, feoh, from Old English feoh (“cattle, property, wealth, money, payment, tribute, fee”), from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“sheep, cattle, owndom”), from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”). Cognate with Scots fe, fie (“cattle, sheep, livestock, deer, goods, property, wealth, money, wages”), West Frisian fee (“livestock”), Dutch vee (“cattle, livestock”), Low German fee (“cattle, livestock, property”), German Vieh (“cattle, livestock”), Danish fæ (“cattle, beast, dolt”), Swedish fä (“beast, cattle, dolt”), Norwegian fe (“cattle”), Icelandic fé (“livestock, assets, money”), Latin pecū (“cattle”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fee (plural fees)
- (obsolete) Cattle; livestock, especially considered as the basis of wealth.
- (obsolete) Property; owndom; estate.
- 1844, The Heritage, by James Russell Lowell
- What doth the poor man's son inherit? / Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, / A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; / King of two hands, he does his part / In every useful toil and art; / A heritage, it seems to me, / A king might wish to hold in fee.
- 1915, W.S. Maugham, "Of Human Bondage", chapter 121:
- Cronshaw had told him that the facts of life mattered nothing to him who by the power of fancy held in fee the twin realms of space and time.
- 1844, The Heritage, by James Russell Lowell
- (obsolete) Money paid or bestowed; payment; emolument.
- A monetary payment charged for professional services.
- (obsolete) A prize or reward.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:
- For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, / Yet is the paine thereof much greater than the fee.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:
- (law) An estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs (fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail).
- (law) An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
fee (third-person singular simple present fees, present participle feeing, simple past and past participle feed)
- To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- The patient . . . fees the doctor.
- (Can we date this quote?), William Shakespeare
- There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed.
- Herman Melville, Omoo
- We departed the grounds without seeing Marbonna; and previous to vaulting over the picket, feed our pretty guide, after a fashion of our own.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
See also[edit]
Statistics[edit]
Afrikaans[edit]
Noun[edit]
fee (plural feë or feetjie, diminutive feetjies)
Derived terms[edit]
- feeagtig
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Rhymes: -eː
Noun[edit]
fee f (plural feeën, diminutive feetje)
Luxembourgish[edit]
Verb[edit]
fee
- second-person singular imperative of feeën
Manx[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Verb[edit]
fee
Noun[edit]
fee m
- Verbal noun of fee.
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
fee m
Mutation[edit]
| Manx mutation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
| fee | ee | vee |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
||
West Frisian[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- IPA: /feː/
Etymology 1[edit]
Germanic; cognate with Dutch vee, German Fee and Icelandic fé
Noun[edit]
fee n
Etymology 2[edit]
From French fée
Noun[edit]
fee c (pl feeën)
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms with homophones
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Law
- English verbs
- Afrikaans nouns
- Dutch nouns
- Luxembourgish verb forms
- Manx verbs
- Manx nouns
- Manx verbal nouns
- Manx noun forms
- Manx plurals
- West Frisian nouns