Fien

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic Scots form of fiend, meaning a wicked spirit or the devil himself
2. A old spelling of fiend referring to an evil supernatural being or demon from folklore
3. Used in older Scots writing to denote a malevolent spirit, a devil or demonic creature

Etymology: The Scots "fien" is a dialect form of "fiend," and its root meaning is "enemy," not devil. The Old English "fēond" was the present participle of a verb meaning "to hate," so a fiend was originally simply one who hates you. The word's sense darkened over the centuries as it came to mean a demon or evil spirit, a shift that also tracked the Christian idea of the devil as humanity's chief adversary. In Scots, the form survived with a surprising twist. The phrase "fient a bit" or "fient a one" used the word as an intensifier meaning "not a bit" or "not one," a negative emphasis that likely grew from the sense of the devil or fiend as something utterly absent or unwanted. Scottish writers such as Robert Burns used these forms, and they show the spelling "fient" alongside "fien" in dialect writing.