friendlessness

friend (frĕnd)

n.

1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.

2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.

3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.

4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: »

friends of the clean air movement.

5. Friend A member of the Society of Friends; a Quaker.

tr.v. friend·ed, friend·ing, friends 1) Informal To add (someone) as a friend on a social networking website. 2) Archaic To befriend.

Idiom:

● be friends with ▸ To be a friend of: »

I am friends with my neighbor.

╂ [Middle English, from Old English frēond; see prī-.]

friend’less adj. friend’less·ness n.

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."