Feond

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An enemy or hostile opponent, especially in archaic or poetic usage
2. A person or force that acts as an opponent or rival
3. An adversary or foe regarded with antagonism

Etymology: In Old English, "feond" was simply the present participle of a verb meaning "to hate," so it meant "one who hates," an enemy. It comes from the Proto-Germanic "fijandz," built on "fijon," "to hate." Its twin is "friend," from the Proto-Germanic "frijondz," the present participle of "frijon," "to love." English kept both as opposites that grew from the same grammatical pattern, one from love and one from hate. Old English speakers used "feond" for human enemies in battle and political conflict, and also for supernatural adversaries. Over the Middle English period, the Christian sense of the devil and his demons became the dominant one, and the word narrowed to that meaning. Only later did "fiend" come to describe a cruel or wicked person, and in everyday speech a person obsessed with something, as in "a fitness fiend."