fiend
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
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From Middle English feend, fēnd, fiend, feond, viend, veond (“enemy; demon”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), from Proto-Germanic *fijandz. (compare Old Norse fjándi (Icelandic fjandi, Danish fjende, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish fiende, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian fiende, West Frisian fijân, Low German Feend, Fiend, Dutch vijand, German Feind, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (fijands)), with all of them meaning foe. The Old Norse and Gothic terms are present participles of the corresponding verbs fjá/𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fijan, “to hate”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate”) (compare Sanskrit पीयति (pī́yati, “(he) reviles”)).
Pronunciation
Noun
fiend (plural fiends)
- A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
- Synonym: monster
- 1845, E.A. Poe, "The Raven"
- "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!"
- A very evil person.
- Synonym: monster
- (obsolete) An enemy; a foe.
- Religion teaches us to love everybody, be one fiend or friend.
- (religious, archaic) The enemy of mankind, specifically, the Devil; Satan.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
- At the confirmation ceremony the bishop would lay his hands on the child and tie around its forehead a linen band […] . This was believed to strengthen him against the assaults of the fiend […]
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
- (informal) An addict or fanatic.
- He's been a jazz fiend since his teenage years.
- dope fiend
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
fiend (third-person singular simple present fiends, present participle fiending, simple past and past participle fiended)
- (slang, intransitive) To yearn; to be desperate (for something).
- 2011, Emma J. Stephens, For a Dancer: The Memoir
- I am back in San Francisco at the Clift Hotel, fiending for my fix.
- 2011, Emma J. Stephens, For a Dancer: The Memoir
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
fiend (plural fiendes)
- Alternative form of feend
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːnd
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with archaic senses
- English informal terms
- English verbs
- English slang
- English intransitive verbs
- English words following the I before E except after C rule
- en:People
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns