fiend

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

fend

EtymologyEdit

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, Norwegian fiende, Swedish 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”)).

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /fiːnd/
- Audio (US) (file)
- Rhymes: -iːnd
(obsolete) IPA^(key): /fɛnd/^[1]

NounEdit

fiend (plural fiends)

A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
Synonym: monster
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:
  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, […]
- 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[2], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:
  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 […]
(informal) An addict or fanatic.
He's been a jazz fiend since his teenage years.

dope fiend
- 1837 May 27, “The Poor Gentleman”, in New-York Mirror‎^[3], volume 14, number 48, New York City: [G.P. Morris], →OCLC, page 377:
  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.
- 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 64:
  You could hear him putting away his crumby toilet articles and all, and opening the window. He was a fresh-air fiend.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

demon

Bulgarian: демон (bg) m (demon)
Catalan: dimoni (ca), diable (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 惡魔／恶魔 (zh) (èmó)
Czech: ďábel (cs) m, démon (cs) m, zlý duch
Danish: djævel c, dæmon c
Esperanto: demono
Finnish: demoni (fi), paholainen (fi), pahahenki
French: démon (fr) m
Galician: demo (gl) m, diaño m, perete m, perello m, cachan m, tueiro m, déngaro m, xúncaras m
German: Dämon (de) m, Dämonin f, böser Geist m
Greek: Δαίμων (el) (Daímon)
Hebrew: שטן‎ (he)
Italian: demonio (it)
Japanese: 悪魔 (ja) (akuma)
Latin: daemon (la) m
Maori: tupua
Polish: demon (pl) m, diabeł (pl) m, czart (pl) m
Portuguese: demónio (pt) m (Portugal), demônio (pt) m (Brazil), diabo (pt) m
Russian: де́мон (ru) m (démon)
Serbo-Croatian: демон, demon (sh)
Spanish: diablo (es) m, diablillo m, demonio (es) m

very evil person

Arabic: الْأَلَدُّ الْخَصِم‎ m (al-ʔaladdu l-ḵaṣim)
Bulgarian: злодей (bg) m (zlodej)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 惡魔般的人／恶魔般的人 (èmóbānderén)
Czech: zloduch m
Danish: djævel c
Esperanto: demono, diablo, monstro (eo), senkompatulo
Finnish: peto (fi), riiviö (fi)
French: monstre (fr) m, démon (fr) m
Galician: catralvo m, corrupio m, ruin m, prepia m, tarulán m, pilitrón m, fandelo m, camanduleiro m, morgaña m, avol m
German: Teufel (de) m, Monster (de) n, Ungeheuer (de) n
Hebrew: שטני‎ (he)
Hungarian: gonosz lélek
Italian: demonio (it)
Japanese: 悪魔 (ja) (akuma)
Portuguese: demónio (pt) m (Portugal), demônio (pt) m (Brazil), diabo (pt) m
Russian: злоде́й (ru) m (zlodéj), и́зверг (ru) (ízverg)
Serbo-Croatian: злобник, zlobnik (sh), душманин, dušmanin (sh)
Spanish: diablo (es) m, malvado (es) m, monstruo (es) m

addict, fanatic

Arabic: مَهْوُوْس‎ m (mahwuws)
Bulgarian: пристрастен (bg) m (pristrasten)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 迷 (zh) (mí)
Czech: nadšenec (cs) m, blázen (cs) m, fanatik m
Danish: entusiast (da) c
Esperanto: fanatikulo, toksiĝemulo, toksomaniulo, fano
Estonian: sõltlane
Finnish: addikti (fi)
French: addict (fr) m, (colloquial) accro (fr)
Galician: seide m, fanático (gl) m, adito m
German: Fanatiker (de) m, Enthusiast (de) m, Süchtiger (de) m, Abhängiger (de) m, Besessener (de) m, Freak (de) m
Hungarian: függő (hu), valaminek a rabja
Portuguese: viciado (pt) m
Russian: фана́тик (ru) m (fanátik)
Serbo-Croatian: зависник, фанатик, zavisnik (sh), fanatik (sh)
Spanish: (en las drogas) metido (es) m, adicto (es), fanático (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 魔神 (まじん, majin)
Korean: ^{(please verify)} 악마 (ko) (angma)
Swedish: ^{(please verify)} djävul (sv) (demon), ^{(please verify)} entusiast (sv) m (addict)

VerbEdit

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).
- 1999, Macy Gray, Jeremy Ruzumna, Jinsoo Lim, David Wilder, I Try (song)
  I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you / And I'll try to keep my cool, but I'm fiendin'
- 2011, Emma J. Stephens, For a Dancer: The Memoir
  I am back in San Francisco at the Clift Hotel, fiending for my fix.