fiend

Definition of fiend

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.

“what God or Feend, or ſpirit of the earth, Or Monſter turned to a manly ſhape, Or of what mould or mettel he be made, […]”
“Many hold too that he was acquainted with forbidden arts, and used to carry on an intercourse with the fiends and old women that raised storms, and such like.”
“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!”

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noun

A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.

“what God or Feend, or ſpirit of the earth, Or Monſter turned to a manly ſhape, Or of what mould or mettel he be made, […]”
“Many hold too that he was acquainted with forbidden arts, and used to carry on an intercourse with the fiends and old women that raised storms, and such like.”
“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!”
A very evil person.
(obsolete)An enemy; a foe.

“We waited for our fiend to arrive.”
(archaic, capitalized, sometimes)The enemy of mankind, specifically, the Devil; Satan.

“He proffered a pact to Satan, calling upon the Fiend and working himself into a frenzy - but his infernal majesty failed to respond.”
“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 […]”
(informal)An addict or fanatic.

“dope fiend”
“He's been a jazz fiend since his teenage years.”
“Now the sign of the Lamb is a modern daub, not that which hung like a "banner on the outward wall," when the celebrated "cigar-fiend" used to haunt the hostelrie consuming incredible quantities of the best Havanas.”
“You could hear him putting away his crumby toilet articles and all, and opening the window. He was a fresh-air fiend.”

verb

(intransitive, slang)To yearn; to be desperate.

“I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you / And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm fiendin'”
“I am back in San Francisco at the Clift Hotel, fiending for my fix.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English fend, feend (“enemy; demon”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), Proto-West Germanic *fijand, from Proto-Germanic *fijandz. Cognates Cognate with Scots fient (“fiend”), Saterland Frisian Fäind (“enemy, fiend, foe”),…

See full etymology

From Middle English fend, feend (“enemy; demon”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), Proto-West Germanic *fijand, from Proto-Germanic *fijandz. Cognates Cognate with Scots fient (“fiend”), Saterland Frisian Fäind (“enemy, fiend, foe”), Cimbrian faint (“enemy, fiend”), Dutch vijand (“enemy”), German Feind (“enemy, fiend, foe”), Vilamovian faeind, fajnd (“enemy”), Yiddish פֿײַנד (faynd), פֿײַנט (faynt, “enemy”), Danish fjende (“adversary, enemy, foe”), Icelandic fjandi (“enemy; fiend, demon, devil”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish fiende (“enemy”), Old Norse fjándi (“enemy; devil”), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (fiands), 𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (fijands, “enemy, 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”)).

Anagrams of fiend

6 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play fined 9 points

Words you can make from fiend

29 playable · top: FINED (9 pts)

Best play fined 9 points

4-letter words

8 words

3-letter words

11 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to fiend to make another valid word.

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FIENDS 10 pts