fiend

Meaning

Noun

1. A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
2. A very evil person.
3. (obsolete) An enemy; a foe.
4. The enemy of mankind, specifically, the Devil; Satan.
5. (informal) An addict or fanatic.

Verb

To yearn; to be desperate (for something, especially drugs).

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fiːnd/

Etymology

From Middle English feend, fēnd, fiend, feond, viend, veond (“enemy; demon”), from Old English fēond (“enemy”), Proto-West Germanic *fijand, 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”)).