feo

See also: fẽo

Asturian

Adjective

feo

1. neuter of feu

Catalan

Alternative forms

• feu (Alghero)

Etymology

First attested in the 20th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈfe̞.u]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Northwestern) [ˈfɛ.o]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfɛ.u]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) unknown

Adjective

feo (feminine fea, masculine plural feos, feminine plural fees)

1. (Castilianism) ugly

   Synonym: lleig

Usage notes

• Often regarded "inadmissible" and not part of the literary language.

Esperanto

Etymology

From French fée and German Fee, by way of feino with the feminine suffix -ino.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eo
• Syllabification: fe‧o

Noun

feo (accusative singular feon, plural feoj, accusative plural feojn)

1. fairy

Further reading

• “feo”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN
• “feo”, in Reta Vortaro [Online Dictionary] (in Esperanto), 1997-2026

Galician

Alternative forms

• feio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeo/ [ˈfe.ʊ]
• Rhymes: -eo
• Hyphenation: fe‧o

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰós

Proto-Italic *feiðos

Latin foedus

Old Galician-Portuguese feo

Galician feo

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese feo, from Latin foedus (“hideous”).

Adjective

feo (feminine fea, masculine plural feos, feminine plural feas)

1. ugly

   Synonyms: laido, edo, croucho, tocho

   • 1370, R. Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 227:

     quen foy couardo ou quen ardido, ou foy mao ou bõo, ou quen foy uilão ou paação, ou feo ou aposto, ou arrizado ou flaco, ou barnesco ou escasso, ou mãsso ou sañudo

     who was coward or who was hardy, or who was bad or good, or who was villein or palatial, or ugly or handsome, or vigorous or feeble, or generous or niggardly, or gentle or wicked

Derived terms

• feamente

Related terms

• fealdade

Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese fẽo, from Latin faenum (“hay”). Cognate with Portuguese feno, Spanish heno.

Alternative forms

• feno, freo

Noun

feo m (plural feos)

1. hay
   • 1409, José Luis Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 61:

     Jtem. deue o potro comer feo, palla, herua, orio, auea, espelqa, que quer dizer melga, et as qousas semellauelles a esto, que naturalmente som para seu comer.

     Item. The foal must eat hay, straw, grass, barley, oat, spelt —that is, melga— and things that are similar to these, which are naturally for them to eat

2. beachgrass

Derived terms

• Feais
• Feal
• feal
• Feáns
• Feás
• Fial
• Fiosa

Related terms

• fiollo
• fiúncho

References

• “feo”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “feo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “feo”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “feo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “feo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “feo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Irish

Alternative forms

• feochan

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /fʲoː/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /fʲɔː/

Noun

feo m (genitive singular as substantive feo, genitive as verbal noun feoite, uncountable)

1. verbal noun of feoigh
2. decay

Mutation

Mutated forms of feo

radical	lenition	eclipsis
feo	fheo	bhfeo

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Italian

Verb

feo

1. (poetic or archaic) alternative form of fece, third-person singular past historic of fare
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto IV”, in Inferno [Hell], line 144; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     [vidi] Averoìs, che ’l gran comento feo

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Macanese

Alternative forms

• fêo

Etymology

Derived from Old Galician-Portuguese feo. Compare Portuguese feio.

Adjective

feo

1. ugly

   feo olâ ― it doesn't look good (literally, “ugly look”)

   Ânsia feo olâ ― It is bad to be greedy (literally, “greed ugly look”)

   Estung'a quanto casa sâm bem di feo

   These houses are very ugly

Usage notes

• feo olâ may be a calque of Cantonese 難睇 / 难睇 (naan⁴ tai², “ugly”, literally “difficult to look (at)”) or otherwise related to this phrase.

References

• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fe͜oː/
• Rhymes: -e͜oː

Noun

fēo

1. dative singular of feoh

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin foedus (“hideous”). According to Corominas borrowed from Asturian feu, displacing native hedo. Cognate with Portuguese feio. Compare English fedity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeo/ [ˈfe.o]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eo
• Syllabification: fe‧o

Adjective

feo (feminine fea, masculine plural feos, feminine plural feas, superlative feísimo)

1. ugly

   Antonyms: guapo, bonito, bello, hermoso

2. in poor condition

   Synonyms: pobre, cutre

3. (Mexico) bad, gross, mean, nasty

   Synonyms: malo, malvado

Derived terms

• afear
• bailar con la más fea
• bichofeo
• feamente
• feo del baile, fea del baile (“wallflower, shrinking violet”)
• feo, fuerte, y formal
• hacer un feo
• más feo que Carracuca
• más feo que pegar a un padre
• más feo que Picio
• patito feo
• sexo feo

Related terms

• fealdad

Further reading

• “feo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025