foe
/foʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.51 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An enemy.
name
Initialism of Friends of the Earth.
name
Initialism of Friends of the Earth.
name
Initialism of Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Example Sentences
- "he, I say, could passe into Affrike onely with two simple ships or small barkes, to commit himselfe in a strange and foe countrie, to engage his person, under the power of a barbarous King […]."
- "And a mans foes ſhalbe they of his owne houſhold."
- "Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee."
Etymology
From Middle English fo (“foe; hostile”), from earlier yfoh, yvo, ifa (“foe”), from Old English ġefāh (“enemy”), from fāh (“hostile”), from Proto-West Germanic *faih, from Proto-Germanic *faihaz (compare Old Frisian fāch (“punishable”), Middle High German gevēch (“feuder”)), from Proto-Indo-European *peyk/ḱ- (“to hate, be hostile”) (compare Middle Irish óech (“enemy, fiend”), Lithuanian pi̇̀ktas (“evil”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *peyḱ-, fo, ġefāh, *faih, *faihaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /foʊ/
- British English: /fəʊ/