fain

Etymology

From Middle English fain, from Old English fægen, from Proto-Germanic *faganaz (“glad”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to make pretty, please oneself”), akin to Old Norse feginn (“glad, joyful”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌽 (faginon, “to rejoice”), Old Norse fagna (“to rejoice”)^[1]. Compare Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐍃 (*fahs, “glad”)^[2].

Pronunciation

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• IPA^(key): /fe͡ɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophones: feign, fane, foehn

Adjective

fain (comparative more fain, superlative most fain)

1. (archaic) Well-pleased; glad; apt

   Synonyms: wont, fond, inclined

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter primum, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:

     Thus Gawayne and Ector abode to gyder / For syre Ector wold not awey til Gawayne were hole / & the good knyȝt Galahad rode so long tyll he came that nyghte to the Castel of Carboneck / & hit befelle hym thus / that he was benyghted in an hermytage / Soo the good man was fayne whan he sawe he was a knyght erraunt

   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     Men and birds are fain of climbing high.

   • Jeremy Taylor (1613–1677)

     To a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his business.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Death-Parting, line 11

     O love, of my death my life is fain,

   • 1900, Ernest Dowson, To One in Bedlam, lines 9-10

     O lamentable brother! if those pity thee, / Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;

2. (archaic) Satisfied; contented.
   • 2004, W. Ross Winterowd, quoting John Donne, Holy Sonnet XIV, Searching for Faith: A Skeptic's Journey, Parlor Press, →ISBN, page 29:

     Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

Adverb

fain (comparative fainer, superlative fainest)

1. (archaic) With joy; gladly.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 5

     LEONATO: I would fain know what you have to say.

   • 1633, John Donne, Holly Sonnets, XIV

     Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,/ But am betroth’d unto your enemy

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     The second thing I fain would have had was a tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible to me to make one…

Verb

fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)

1. (archaic) To be delighted or glad; to rejoice.
2. (archaic) To gladden.

References

Anagrams

• an if, fina, naif, naïf

Etymology

From Latin fīnis, fīnem.

Noun

fain m

1. end

Etymology

From Old French foin, fein, from Latin faenum.

Noun

fain m (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) hay

Etymology

From Latin fames.

Noun

fain f (nominative singular fain)

1. hunger

Etymology

Borrowed from German fein.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fajn/

Adjective

fain m, n (feminine singular faină, masculine plural faini, feminine and neuter plural faine)

1. cool, fine, of good quality

Alternative forms

• (Sursilvan) fein
• (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) fagn

Etymology

From Latin faenum.

Noun

fain m

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) hay

Noun

fain

1. woman

Further reading

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)