[fyood] 
| 1. | Also called blood feud. a bitter, continuous hostility, esp. between two families, clans, etc., often lasting for many years or generations. |
| 2. | a bitter quarrel or contention: a feud between labor and management. |
| 3. | to engage in a feud. |
| fee (fē) n.
[Middle English fe, from Old English feoh, cattle, goods, money, and from Anglo-Norman fee, fief (from Old French fie, fief, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English feoh); see peku- in Indo-European roots.] Word History: It is possible to see the idea of money taking hold of the human mind by studying a few words that express the notion of wealth or goods. The word fee now denotes money paid or received for a service rendered. Fee comes from Old English feoh, which has three meanings, all equally ancient: "cattle, livestock"; "goods, possessions, movable property"; "money." The Germanic form behind the Old English is *fehu, which derives by Grimm's Law from Indo-European *peku-, "cattle." *Fehu is therefore a cognate of Latin pecu, "cattle," also a direct descendant of Indo-European *peku-. Latin pecu has several derivatives that ultimately were borrowed into English. One was pecūnia, "money," the source of our word pecuniary. Another was pecūliāris, "pertaining to one's pecūlium or property," the source of our word peculiar. Finally, our word peculator comes from yet a third derivative, pecūlātor, "embezzler of public money, peculator." |
| feud 1 (fyōōd) n. A bitter, often prolonged quarrel or state of enmity, especially such a state of hostilities between two families or clans. intr.v. feud·ed, feud·ing, feuds To carry on or perpetuate a bitter quarrel or state of enmity. [Alteration (probably influenced by feud2) of Middle English fede, from Old French faide, of Germanic origin.] |
| feud 2 (fyōōd) n. See fee. [Medieval Latin feudum, of Germanic origin; see peku- in Indo-European roots.] |
