Foe
/foʊ/noun
An enemy or opponent.
Did you know?Foe comes from an ancient Germanic root *faihaz meaning “hostile” or “hateful,” which also gave English words like feud and fairy through related old branchings of meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*peyk- / *peik-
“to hate, be hostile to”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*faihaz
“hostile, enemy-like, hateful”
Old English
OE
fāh / fēa
“hostile, guilty, stained with enmity”
Middle English
ME
foe
“enemy, adversary”
Modern English
English
foe
“an enemy or opponent”