foe
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English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fəʊ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /foʊ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊ
- Homophones: faux, pho
Etymology 1
From Middle English fo (“foe; hostile”), from earlier ifo (“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 pìktas (“evil”)).
Adjective
foe
- (obsolete) Hostile.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes , London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:, vol.1, ch.23:
- 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 .
Translations
hostile
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Noun
foe (plural foes)
- An enemy.
- 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
- 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.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
enemy — see enemy
Etymology 2
Acronym of [ten to the power of] fifty-one ergs, due to equalling 1051 ergs; coined by Gerald Brown of Stony Brook University in his work with Hans Bethe.
Noun
foe (plural foes)
- A unit of energy equal to 1044 joules.
Synonyms
Anagrams
Cameroon Pidgin
Preposition
foe
- Alternative spelling of for
Choctaw
Etymology
Noun
foe
Middle English
Noun
foe
- Alternative form of fo
Portuguese
Verb
foe