Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fee

/fiː/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.51 in modern English

Syllables
fee
IPA
/fiː/
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An amount charged in return for permission to do something

noun

An amount charged in return for permission to do something:

noun

An amount charged in return for permission to do something:

noun

A fixed rate or price charged for (chiefly white-collar) professional services.

noun

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).

noun

A right to the use of a superior's land as a stipend for certain services to be performed, typically military service.

noun

Synonym of fief: the land so held.

noun

An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of performance of certain services, typically military service.

Example Sentences

Etymology

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”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fäi (“cattle, livestock”), West Frisian fee (“livestock”), Cimbrian biighe, viighe (“animal, beast”), Dutch vee (“cattle, livestock”), German Viech (“animal, beast”), Vieh (“livestock”), German Low German Veeh (“cattle, livestock, property”), Luxembourgish Véi (“cattle”), Vilamovian fi, fī, fii, fiih (“cattle, livestock”), Yiddish פֿי (fi), פֿיך (fikh, “cattle, livestock”), Danish and Faroese fæ (“cattle, livestock”), Icelandic fé (“assets, livestock, money”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fe (“cattle, livestock”), Swedish fä (“beast, cattle, dolt”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍉 (faihō), 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿 (faihu, “possessions, property; riches, wealth; money”); also Latin pecū (“cattle”), Old Prussian pecku (“cattle”), Armenian ասր (asr, “fleece, wool”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬯𐬎 (pasu, “livestock”), Bactrian ποσο (poso, “sheep”), Central Kurdish پەز (pez, “sheep”), Northern Kurdish pez (“sheep”), Ossetian фыс (fys, “sheep”), Talysh pəs, пәс (“sheep”), Sanskrit पशु (paśu, “cattle”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *peḱ-, fee, feoh, fieu, fevum, *fehu

Usage

Inflected Forms

fees (plural) fees (present, singular) feeing (participle, present) feed (participle, past) feed (past)

Derived Forms

feeable feebate feeless feepayer feepaying feevee nonfee unfeed

Phrases

absolute fee simple advance fee fraud advance fee scam alms-fee amenity fee attorney's fee base fee bullet fee

Frequently Paired Words

feoffee fief fee-faw-fum

Synonyms

tax fief possession tip bung

Homonyms

fi

Rhymes With

be he we me she see three free de tv key sea

Questions

How do you pronounce fee?
The recorded pronunciation is /fiː/.
What does fee mean?
An amount charged in return for permission to do something
Where does fee come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce fee

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fee”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/fiː/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “fee”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “fee” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.