fee

Meaning

1. An amount charged for a privilege.
2. An amount charged for professional services.
3. An additional monetary payment charged for a service or good, especially one that is minor compared to the underlying cost.
4. 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. A right to the use of a superior's land as a stipend for certain services to be performed, typically military service.
6. Synonym of fief: the land so held.
7. An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of performance of certain services, typically military service.
8. (obsolete) Synonym of possession.
9. (obsolete) Money paid or bestowed; payment; emolument.
10. (obsolete) A prize or reward. Only used in the set phrase "A finder's fee" in Modern English.

charge

membership fee

subscription charge

sales commission

obligatory contribution

admission-paid

waste

give a feast

land tenure

tuition fees

compensation for damage

fee simple absolute

customs duty

entrance fee

excise duty

legal costs

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fiː/

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 पशु (paśu, “cattle”).