noun
- A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
- A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
- A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
- One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.
- Friend A member of the Society of Friends; a Quaker.
transitive verb
friend·ed, friend·ing, friends - Informal To add (someone) as a friend on a social networking website.
- Archaic To befriend.
Origin of friend
Middle English
from Old English
frēond ; see
prī- in Indo-European roots.
Related Forms:
Word History: The relationship between Latin
amīcus, “friend,” and
amō, “I love,” is clear, as is the relationship between Greek
philos, “friend,” and
phileō, “I love.” In English, though, we have to go back a millennium before we see the verb that we can easily connect to
friend. Frēond, the Old English source of Modern English
friend, is related to the Old English verb
frēon, “to love, like, honor, set free (from slavery or confinement).” Specifically,
frēond comes from the present participle of the Germanic ancestor of Old English
frēon and thus originally meant “one who loves.” (The Old English verb
frēon, “to love, set free,” by the way, survives today in Modern English as
to free. ) The Germanic root of
frēond and
frēon is
*frī-, which meant “to like, love, be friendly to.” Closely linked to these concepts is that of “peace,” and in fact Germanic made a noun from this root,
*frithu-, meaning exactly that. Ultimately descended from this noun are the personal names
Frederick, “peaceful ruler,” and
Siegfried, “victory peace.” The root also shows up in the name of the Germanic deity
Frigg, the goddess of love, who lives on today in the word
Friday, “day of Frigg,” from an ancient translation of Latin
Veneris diēs, “day of Venus.”
