fiend

Alternative forms

• fend

Etymology

From Middle English feend, fēnd, fiend, feond, viend, veond (“enemy; demon”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), from Proto-Germanic *fijandz. Cognate with Old Norse fjándi (Icelandic fjandi, Danish fjende, Swedish fiende, Norwegian fiende, West Frisian fijân, Low German Feend, Fiend, Dutch vijand, German Feind, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (fijands), all of them meaning foe. The Old Norse and Gothic terms are present participles of the corresponding verbs fjá/𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fijan, “to hate”). Akin to Sanskrit पीयति (pīyati, “(he) reviles”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiːnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnd

Noun

fiend (plural fiends)

1. A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
   • 1845, E.A. Poe, "The Raven"

     "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!"

2. A very evil person.
3. (obsolete) An enemy; a foe.
4. (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 […].

5. (informal) An addict or fanatic

   a jazz fiend

Verb

fiend (third-person singular simple present fiends, present participle fiending, simple past and past participle fiended)

1. (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.

Anagrams

• endif, finde, fined, indef, indef.

Noun

fiend (plural fiendes)

1. Alternative form of feend