fief
pronunciation
How to pronounce fief in British English:
UK [fi:f]
How to pronounce fief in American English:
US [fif]
-
- Noun:
- a piece of land held under the feudal system
Word Origin
- fief
- fief: see fee
- fief (n.)
- also feoff, 1610s, from French fief (12c.) "a 'feud,' possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment," from Medieval Latin feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," widely said to be from Frankish *fehu-od "payment-estate," or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is from Proto-Germanic *fekhu, making it cognate with Old English feoh "money, movable property, cattle" (see fee). Second element perhaps is similar to Old English ead "wealth" (see Edith).
Example
- 1. One was a feudal fief : her family 's land in sindh province .
- 2. Like being the leader of a regicidal tribe or a fractious caucasian fief , to be chosen as commissioner of london 's metropolitan police has become an ominous accolade .
- 3. As a result , kdp supporters smashed the offices of opposition groups in erbil , the kurdish capital and the kdp 's biggest fief .
- 4. Mr luzhkov is the embodiment of a 1990s paternalistic leader who ran moscow as his fief , drawing on the support of the population .
- 5. The calibre of this hushed gathering testified not just to the power wielded by prince sultan bin abdel aziz , who may well have been the world 's richest man , having run the lavishly equipped saudi army as his fief since 1962 .