friend

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See also Friends, and friends

Contents

English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

From Middle English frende, frend, freond, from Old English frēond (“friend, relative, lover”, literally “loving-[one]”), from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“lover, friend”), from Proto-Indo-European *prēy-, *prāy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with West Frisian freon, froen, freondinne (“friend”), Dutch vriend (“friend”), Low German frund, fründ (“friend, relative”), German Freund (“friend”), Danish frænde (“kinsman”), Swedish frände (“kinsman, relative”), Icelandic frændi (“kinsman”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (frijōnds, “friend”). More at free.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

friend (plural friends)

  1. A person other than a family member, spouse or lover whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.
    John and I have been friends ever since we were roommates at college.
    Trust is important between friends.
    I used to find it hard to make friends when I was shy.
  2. A boyfriend or girlfriend.
  3. An associate who provides assistance.
    The Automobile Association is every motorist’s friend.
    The police is every law abiding citizen’s friend.
  4. A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted
    a friend of a friend
    I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.
  5. A person who backs or supports something.
    I’m not a friend of cheap wine.
  6. (informal) An object or idea that can be used for good.
    Google is your friend.
  7. (colloquial, sarcastic, used only in the vocative) Used as a form of address when warning someone.
    You’d better watch it, friend.
  8. (computing, programming) In object-oriented programming, a function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
    • 1991, Tom Swan, Learning C++
      But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends. Top C++ programmers avoid using friends unless absolutely necessary.
    • 2001, Stephen Prata, C++ primer plus
      In that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend.
    • 2008, D S Malik, C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
      To make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype...

Synonyms [edit]

Antonyms [edit]

  • (person whose company one enjoys): enemy, foe, nemesis (nonstandard)
  • (person who provides assistance): enemy, foe

Usage notes [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Term derived from friend (noun)

Translations [edit]

person whose company one enjoys
boyfriend or girlfriend
person with whom you are acquainted
person who provides assistance
person who backs something
object or idea that can be used for good
(sarcastic) form of address used to warn someone
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb [edit]

friend (third-person singular simple present friends, present participle friending, simple past and past participle friended)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:
      Lo sluggish Knight the victors happie pray: / So fortune friends the bold [...].
  2. (transitive) To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.
    • 2006, David Fono and Kate Raynes-Goldie, "Hyperfriendship and Beyond: Friends and Social Norms on LiveJournal" (PDF version), Internet Research Annual Volume 4, Peter Lang, ISBN 0820478571, page 99,
      The difference between responses to the statement, "If someone friends me, I will friend them," and "If I friend someone, I expect them to friend me back," is telling.
    • 2006, Kevin Farnham and Dale G. Farnham, Myspace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens And Parents, How-To Primers, ISBN 0977883353, page 69,
      One of the most used features of MySpace is the practice that is nicknamed "friending." If you "friend" someone, then that person is added to your MySpace friends list, and you are added to their friends list.

Synonyms [edit]

Antonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

befriend — see befriend
to act as the friend of
to add as a friend

Statistics [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

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