"F" Word Origins

Featherstone

Middle English

From Middle English featherston, fetherstane, from Old English feoþerstān, fiþerstān (literally “four-stone”), from Old English fiþer- (“four”) + stān (“stone”).

feature

Latin

From Old French faiture, ultimately from Latin facere ("to make, do") — a doublet of "facture".

featured

Origin

From feature + the ending -ed, turning the noun into a descriptive adjective.

febrile

Origin

Borrowed from Medieval Latin febrīlis, from Latin febris (“fever”). By surface analysis, Latin febr- + -ile.

February

Latin

From Latin Februarius, named after Februa, an ancient Roman festival of purification held around the middle of the month.

februation

Origin

From Latin februatio, from februare (“purify”).

fecal

Latin

From Latin faex ("dregs, sediment"), the same root that gives us feces.

feces

Latin

From Latin faecēs, the plural of faex, meaning "dregs" or "residue."

feck

Origin

A shortened Scots form of "effect."

feckless

Origin

From Scots feckless, "without feck (effect)" — built from effect + -less.

feckly

Origin

From feck + -ly.

feculence

Origin

From French féculence, from Latin faeculentia. Doublet of feculency.

fecund

Origin

From Middle French fécond, from Latin fēcundus (“fertile”), which is related to fētus and fēmina (“woman”).

fecundate

Origin

From Latin fecundātus, perfect passive participle of fecundō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). By surface analysis, fecund + -ate. Compare French féconder.

fecundity

Origin

From Latin fēcunditās (“fruitfulness, fertility”), from fēcundus, equivalent to fecund + -ity.

fed

Origin

A clipped, informal form of "federal."

fed up

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

feddan

Origin

Borrowing from Arabic فَدَّان (faddān).

Fede

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Fede.

federal

Latin

From French fédéral, from Latin foedus, "covenant, treaty, alliance."

federalism

Latin

From federal, which comes from Latin foedus, foeder- 'league, covenant, treaty', plus the suffix -ism denoting a doctrine or system.

federation

Latin

From French fédération, ultimately from Latin foederare, "to join by treaty," related to federal.

Federico

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Federico (through immigration). Doublet of Frederick.

FedEx

Origin

A blend of "federal" and "express," shortened from the company's original name, Federal Express.

fedora

Origin · 1882

Named after the heroine Fédora in an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, who wore this style of hat on stage.

fee

Old French

From Old English feoh ("cattle, property, money"), blended with Old French fief — both ultimately from a Germanic word for livestock, since animals were once a measure of wealth.

feeble

Latin

From Anglo-Norman feble, ultimately from Latin flebilis, "tearful, pitiable" — a doublet of the word foible.

feebleness

Origin

From Middle English feblenesse; equivalent to feeble + -ness.

feed

Old English

From Old English fēdan, "to feed," going back to a very old Indo-European root meaning "to guard or graze" — related to food and fodder.

feedback

Origin

A compound of feed + back, originally an engineering term for output looped back into a system's input.

feeder

Origin

From Middle English feedere, federe, fedare, equivalent to feed + -er.

feeding

Origin

By surface analysis, feed + -ing.

feel

Old English

From Old English fēlan, "to feel," related to Dutch voelen and German fühlen.

feelefold

Origin

From Middle English felefold, felefolde (“multiple, many; varied, diverse”), from Old English felafeald, felefeald (“manifold, many times over”), equivalent to fele (“many”) + -fold. Compare Dutch veelvoud, German Vielfalt.

feeler

Origin

From Middle English feler, feeler, felar, equivalent to feel + -er. Animal organ definition from 1660s. Transferred sense of "proposal put forth to observe the reaction it gets" is from 1830.

feeling

Middle English

From Middle English felynge, built from feel + the ending -ing.

Feeney

Irish

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fiannaidhe (“descendant of Fiannaidhe”), a byname meaning "warrior", from fiann (“army”).

Feeny

Origin

Variant of Feeney.

feet

Middle English

From Middle English feet, fet, from Old English fēt, from Proto-Germanic *fōtiz, from Proto-Indo-European *pódes, nominative plural of *pṓds (“foot”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fäite (“feet”), West Frisian fiet (“feet”), German Füße (“feet”), Danish fødder (“feet”), Swedish fötter (“feet”), Faroese føtur (“feet”), Icelandic fætur (“feet”).

feeze

Origin

From Middle English fese, from the verb (see below).

Fei

French

Borrowed from French FEI, from French Fédération Équestre Internationale (“International Equestrian Federation”).

feign

Latin

From Old French feindre, "to pretend," from Latin fingere, "to shape or invent" — a relative of fiction and figment.

feilding

Origin

Named after William H. A. Feilding.

Fein

Origin

From the German and Jewish (via Yiddish פֿײַן (fayn)) surname, from the adjective fein (“fine”), similar to the surname Fine.

feint

Latin

From French feinte, "a dummy move," from feindre, "to feign" — ultimately from Latin fingere.

feisty

Old English

Comes from the American word feist, an old term for a small, aggressive dog, itself traced back to an Old English word meaning "fart" — plus the ending -y.

feldspar

Origin

Partial calque of German Feldspat, formed from Feld (“field”) + Spat (“spar”), the second element replaced with the English cognate spar.

Felicia

Latin

From Middle English Felicia, from Latin Fēlīcia, from fēlīcia (literally “happy things”), the neuter plural of fēlīx, which often occurred in the phrase tempora fēlīcia (“happy times”).