fief
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Old French fief, of Germanic origin. Related to fee.
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /fiːf/
- Rhymes: -iːf
- Homophone: thief (in accents with th-fronting)
Noun [edit]
fief (plural fiefs)
- An estate held of a superior on condition of military service.
- Something over which one has rights or exercises control.
- (metaphor) An area of dominion, especially in a corporate or governmental bureaucracy.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
Estate
See also [edit]
Fief in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Anagrams [edit]
French [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Old French fief, borrowed from Medieval Latin fevum[1], a variant of feudum, from Old Frankish *fehu (“cattle, livestock”), from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle, sheep”), from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”). Cognate with Old High German fihu (“cattle, neat”), Old English feoh (“cattle, property, money”). More at fee.
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /fjɛf/
Noun [edit]
fief m (plural fiefs)
Related terms [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Jacqueline Picoche, Jean-Claude Rolland, Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris 2009, Dictionnaires Le Robert, ISBN 978-2-84902-424-9
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English terms with homophones
- English nouns
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Frankish
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
