Wiktionary

fee

See also: Fee, fée, fêe, feë, fe'e, and fɛɛ́

English Edit

Etymology Edit

From Middle English fee, fe, feh, feoh, from Old English feoh (“cattle, property, wealth, money, payment, tribute, fee”) with contamination from Old French fieu, fief (from Medieval Latin fevum, a variant of feudum (see feud), from Frankish *fehu (“cattle, livestock”); whence fief), both from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle, sheep, livestock, owndom”), from Proto-Indo-European *péḱu (“livestock”). Cognate with Old High German fihu (“cattle, neat”), Scots fe, fie (“cattle, sheep, livestock, deer, goods, property, wealth, money, wages”), West Frisian fee (“livestock”), Dutch vee (“cattle, livestock”), Low German Veeh (“cattle, livestock, property”), Veh, German Vieh (“cattle, livestock”), Danish fæ (“cattle, beast, dolt”), Swedish fä (“beast, cattle, dolt”), Norwegian fe (“cattle”), Icelandic fé (“livestock, assets, money”), Latin pecū (“cattle”), Sanskrit paśu (“cattle”)..

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

fee (plural fees)

  1. (law, historical) A right to the use of a superior's land as a stipend for certain services to be performed, typically military service.
  2. (law, historical) Synonym of fief: the land so held.
  3. (law, historical) An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of performance of certain services, typically military service.
  4. (law) An inheritable estate in land, whether absolute and without limitation to potential heirs (fee simple) or with limitations to particular kinds of heirs (fee tail).
  5. (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of possession.
    • 1807, William Wordsworth, “On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic”, in Poems in Two Volumes:
      Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee;
    • 1844, The Heritage, by James Russell Lowell
      What doth the poor man's son inherit? / Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, / A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; / King of two hands, he does his part / In every useful toil and art; / A heritage, it seems to me, / A king might wish to hold in fee.
    • 1915, W.S. Maugham, Of Human Bondage, chapter 121:
      Cronshaw had told him that the facts of life mattered nothing to him who by the power of fancy held in fee the twin realms of space and time.
  6. (obsolete) Money paid or bestowed; payment; emolument.
  7. (obsolete) A prize or reward. Only used in the set phrase "A finder's fee" in Modern English.
  8. An additional monetary payment charged for a service or good that is minor compared to the underlying cost.
    • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
      Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

Derived terms Edit

Related terms Edit

Translations Edit

Verb Edit

fee (third-person singular simple present fees, present participle feeing, simple past and past participle feed)

  1. To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.
    • 1693, John Dryden, “The Third Satire of Aulus Persius Flaccus”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis:
      In vain for Hellebore the patient cries / And fees the doctor; but too late is wise
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
      There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed.
    • 1847, Herman Melville, Omoo:
      We departed the grounds without seeing Marbonna; and previous to vaulting over the picket, feed our pretty guide, after a fashion of our own.
    • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:
      It was at a much earlier hour than that which Mrs. Santon had named, that Delwood presented himself, and handsomely feeing the porter who answered his summons, he asked to see Miss Santon […]

See also Edit

Anagrams Edit

Afrikaans Edit

Etymology Edit

From Dutch fee.

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

fee (plural feë, diminutive feetjie)

  1. fairy, pixie

Related terms Edit

Dutch Edit

Etymology Edit

Borrowed from French fée, from Middle French [Term?], from Old French fae, from Latin fāta, from fātum.

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

fee f (plural feeën, diminutive feetje n)

  1. (folklore) fairy

Derived terms Edit

Descendants Edit

  • Afrikaans: fee
  • → West Frisian: fee

Luxembourgish Edit

Verb Edit

fee

  1. second-person singular imperative of feeën

Manx Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

From Old Irish figid, from Proto-Celtic *wegyeti (“to weave, compose”), from Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to spin, weave”). Cognate with Irish figh.

Verb Edit

fee

  1. to weave, knit
  2. to plait, braid
  3. to interlace, intertwine
  4. to mat

Noun Edit

fee m (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

  1. verbal noun of fee

Etymology 2 Edit

Noun Edit

fee m

  1. genitive singular of feeagh
  2. plural of feeagh

Mutation Edit

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
fee ee vee
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English Edit

Noun Edit

fee

  1. Alternative form of fey (“liver”)

Norwegian Nynorsk Edit

Noun Edit

fee n

  1. (non-standard since 1917) definite singular of fe

Romanian Edit

Etymology Edit

Borrowed from French fée.

Noun Edit

fee f (plural fee)

  1. fairy

Declension Edit

Declension of fee
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (o) fee feea (niște) fee feele
genitive/dative (unei) fee feei (unor) fee feelor
vocative fee, feeo feelor

West Frisian Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

From Old Frisian fia, from Proto-Germanic *fehu, from Proto-Indo-European *peḱu- (“livestock”).

Noun Edit

fee n (no plural)

  1. livestock
Further reading Edit
  • “fee (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Etymology 2 Edit

Borrowed from Dutch fee, from French fée.

Noun Edit

fee c (plural feeën, diminutive feeke)

  1. fairy
Further reading Edit
  • “fee (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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