foe
pronunciation
How to pronounce foe in British English:
UK [fəʊ]
How to pronounce foe in American English:
US [foʊ]
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- Noun:
- an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
- a personal enemy
Word Origin
- foe
- foe: [OE] Foe is the modern descendant of the Old English noun gefā ‘enemy’, a derivative of Germanic *faikh-. This also produced the Old English adjective fāh ‘hostile’, and was the ultimate source of modern English feud.=> feud
- foe (n.)
- Old English gefea, gefa "foe, enemy, adversary in a blood feud" (the prefix denotes "mutuality"), from adjective fah "at feud, hostile," also "guilty, criminal," from Proto-Germanic *faihaz (cognates: Old High German fehan "to hate," Gothic faih "deception"), probably from PIE root *peig- (2) "evil-minded, treacherous, hostile" (cognates: Sanskrit pisunah "malicious," picacah "demon;" Greek pikros "bitter;" Latin piget "it irks, troubles, displeases," piger "reluctant, lazy;" Lithuanian piktas "wicked, angry," pekti "to blame"). Weaker sense of "adversary" is first recorded c. 1600.
Antonym
Example
- 1. The malaria parasite is a terrible foe .
- 2. Is bp an environmental friend or foe ?
- 3. Richard holbrooke , an american diplomat known by friend and foe as a bulldozer , was accustomed to getting his way .
- 4. My foe outstretched beneath the tree .
- 5. Such platforms must always carry the sophisticated equipment to defeat a sophisticated foe .