enmity

English

Alternative forms

Variant spellings

(tetrasyllabic)

• (14^th-century):
  • enemyte
  • enemytee
  • ennemite
  • ennemyte
• (15^th-century):
  • enemyte
  • enemytee
  • ennemite
  • ennemyte
  • enymyte

• (16^th-century):
  • enemitie
  • enemyte
  • enemytee
  • enimitie
  • enimity
  • ennemite
  • ennemyte
  • ennimitie
  • inimity

(trisyllabic)

• (14^th-century):
  • enmite
  • enmitye
  • enmyte
  • enmytee
• (15^th-century):
  • enmyte
  • enmytee

• (16^th-century):
  • enmity
  • enmyte
  • enmytee
• (17^th-century–present):
  • enmity

Etymology

From Old French enemisté, ennemistié, from Late Latin, Vulgar Latin *inimīcitās, *inimīcitātem, from Latin inimīcus (“enemy”); cognates: French inimitié, Portuguese inimizade, Spanish enemistad.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.mɪ.tɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛn.mɪ.tiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

enmity (countable and uncountable, plural enmities)

1. The quality of being an enemy; hostile or unfriendly disposition.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 242e.

     Some later Muses from Ionia and Sicily reckoned it safest to weave together both versions and say that that which is is both many and one, held together by both enmity and amity.

2. A state or feeling of opposition, hostility, hatred or animosity.
   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     I merely repeat, remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways.

Quotations

• 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 3:15, column 1:

  And I will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman, and betweene thy ſeed and her ſeed: it ſhal bruiſe thy head, and thou ſhalt bruiſe his heele.

Synonyms

• animosity
• animus
• antagonism
• antipathy
• enemyhood
• enemyness
• enemyship
• foeship
• hostility
• rancor

 

Antonyms

• amity

Translations

hostile or unfriendly disposition

• Albanian: armiqësi (sq) f
• Arabic: عَدَاوَة‎ f (ʿadāwa)

  Egyptian Arabic: عداوة‎ f (ʿadāwa)

• Armenian: թշնամություն (hy) (tʿšnamutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: düşmənçilik, ədavət
• Belarusian: варо́жасць f (varóžascʹ), варажне́ча f (varažnjéča), непрыя́знасць f (njepryjáznascʹ)
• Bengali: শত্রুতা (śôtruta)
• Bulgarian: вражда́ (bg) f (vraždá), вражде́бност (bg) f (vraždébnost), неприя́зън (bg) f (neprijázǎn)
• Catalan: enemistat f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 敵意 (zh), 敌意 (zh) (díyì)

• Czech: nepřátelství (cs) f
• Danish: fjendskab c
• Dutch: vijandschap (nl), animositeit (nl) m
• Esperanto: malamikeco
• Estonian: vaenulikkus
• Finnish: vihamielisyys (fi)
• French: inimitié (fr) f
• Georgian: მტრობა (mṭroba)
• German: Feindschaft (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌸𐍅𐌰 f (fijaþwa)
• Greek: εχθρότητα (el) f (echthrótita), έχθρα (el) f (échthra), μύνις f (mýnis)

  Ancient: ἔχθρα f (ékhthra)

• Hebrew: אֵיבָה‎ (he) f (eyvá)
• Hindi: दुश्मनी (hi) f (duśmanī), अदावत (hi) f (adāvat), घृणा (hi) f (ghŕṇā), विद्वेष (hi) m (vidveṣ), वैर (hi) m (vair), शत्रुता (hi) f (śatrutā)
• Hungarian: viszály (hu)
• Icelandic: fjandskapur m
• Italian: inimicizia (it) f, ostilità (it) f
• Japanese: 敵意 (ja) (てきい, tekii), 敵対 (ja) (てきたい, tekitai)
• Kazakh: ғадауат (ğadawat), дұшпандық (kk) (duşpandıq), қастық (qastıq)
• Korean: 적의 (ko) (jeogui), 적대 (ko) (jeokdae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dijminatî (ku), neyarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: душмандык (ky) (duşmandık), кастык (kastık)
• Latin: inimicitia f
• Latvian: ienaids m
• Lithuanian: priešiškumas m

• Macedonian: непријателство n (neprijatelstvo)
• Maori: ito, pukuriri
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дайсагнал (mn) (daisagnal)

  Uyghurjin: ᠳᠠᠶᠢᠰᠤᠩᠨᠠᠯ (dayisungnal)

• Norman: enn'mité f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiendskap n

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: вражьда f (vražĭda)

• Old English: fǣhþ f, nīþ m
• Pashto: دښمني‎ (ps) f (doӽmaní), عداوت‎ (ps) m (adāwát)
• Persian: دشمنی‎ (fa) (došmani), عداوت‎ (fa) ('adâvat), خصومت‎ (fa) (xosumat)
• Polish: wrogość (pl) f, nieprzyjaźń f
• Portuguese: inimizade (pt) f
• Romanian: dușmănie (ro) f, inimiciție (ro) f
• Russian: вражде́бность (ru) f (vraždébnostʹ), вражда́ (ru) f (vraždá), неприя́знь (ru) f (neprijáznʹ), неприя́тие (ru) n (neprijátije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: непријатѐљство n

  Roman: neprijatèljstvo (sh) n

• Sicilian: nnimicizzia n
• Slovak: nepriateľstvo n
• Slovene: sovrȃštvo (sl) n
• Spanish: enemistad (es) f
• Swahili: uadui
• Swedish: fiendskap (sv) c
• Tajik: душманӣ (tg) (dušmanī), адоват (adovat), хусумат (xusumat)
• Tatar: дошманлык (tt) (doşmanlıq)
• Telugu: శత్రుత్వము (te) (śatrutvamu)
• Tocharian B: sanuññe, wer
• Tok Pisin: pasin birua
• Turkish: yağılık (tr), husumet (tr), adavet (tr) (archaic), düşmanlık (tr), hasımlık (tr)
• Turkmen: duşmançylyk
• Ukrainian: воро́жість f (voróžistʹ), ворожне́ча f (vorožnéča), непри́язнь f (neprýjaznʹ), ворожда́ f (voroždá) (poetic)
• Urdu: دشمنی‎ f (duśmanī), عداوت‎ f ('adāvat)
• Uyghur: دۈشمەنلىك‎ (düshmenlik)
• Uzbek: dushmanlik (uz), adovat (uz)

References

• enmity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• enmity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Notes: