different between unfriend vs fiend

English

Alternative forms

• un-friend

Etymology 1

From Middle English unfreend, onfrend, equivalent to un- (noun/adjective prefix) +? friend. Cognate with Scots unfrend (“unfriend”). Compare Old English unfriþmann, unwine.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?nd
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??nf??nd/

Noun

unfriend (plural unfriends)

1. One who is not a friend; an enemy.
   • 1822, Scott, Nigel:

     Ye have back-friends, my lord, that is, un-friends, or to be plain, enemies.

   • 1916, William Edwin Chilton, John Downey Works, Fiscal relation between the United States and the District of Columbia

     Thus many unfriends and some friends of the Capital agree upon the same policy with diverse and contradictory motives […]

   • 1999, Kees Waaijman, John Vriend, The mystical space of Carmel:

     The unfriend betrays me, ignores me, denies me, breaks me down; the unfriend is against and tries to devour my personhood.

Synonyms

• backfriend

Related terms

• unfriendly

Etymology 2

un- (verb prefix) +? friend

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?nd
• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?n?f??nd/

Verb

unfriend (third-person singular simple present unfriends, present participle unfriending, simple past and past participle unfriended)

1. (rare) To sever as friends.
2. (Internet) To defriend; to remove from one's friends list (e.g. on a social networking website).
   • 2007, Mia Consalvo, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Internet Research Annual: Volume 4

     "I asked her why, she said it was because I didn't comment, and I shrugged and said whatever. I didn't unfriend her."

Synonyms

• defriend

Antonyms

• friend
• befriend

Translations

Anagrams

• reinfund

English

Alternative forms

• fend

Etymology

From Middle English feend, f?nd, fiend, feond, viend, veond (“enemy; demon”), from Old English f?ond (“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 ???????????????????????????? (fijands)), with all of them meaning foe. The Old Norse and Gothic terms are present participles of the corresponding verbs fjá/???????????????????? (fijan, “to hate”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?- (“to hate”) (compare Sanskrit ????? (p??yati, “(he) reviles”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?nd/
• Rhymes: -i?nd

Noun

fiend (plural fiends)

1. A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.

   Synonym: monster
2. A very evil person.

   Synonym: monster

3. (obsolete) An enemy; a foe.

4. (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 […]

5. (informal) An addict or fanatic.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fiend (third-person singular simple present fiends, present participle fiending, simple past and past participle fiended)

1. (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.

Translations

Anagrams

• endif, finde, fined, indef, indef.

Middle English

Noun

fiend (plural fiendes)

1. Alternative form of feend