fiend

• n. 魔鬼；能手；成癖者

来自PIE*peig, 狡猾的，敌对的，坏心眼的，词源同foe, feud.

fiend

fiend: [OE] Fiend seems originally to have meant ‘hated person’. It was formed in prehistoric times from the past participle of a Germanic verb meaning ‘hate’ (represented in historic times by, for example, Old English fēon, Old High German fiēn, and Gothic fijan). In Old English its meaning had progressed to ‘enemy’ (which is what its German relative feind still means). Then towards the end of the first millennium AD we see evidence of its being applied to the ‘enemy’ of mankind, the Devil. From there it was a short step to an ‘evil spirit’ in general, and hence to any ‘diabolically wicked person’.

fiend (n.)

Old English feond "enemy, foe, adversary," originally present participle of feogan "to hate," from Proto-Germanic *fijand- "hating, hostile" (cognates: Old Frisian fiand "enemy," Old Saxon fiond, Middle Dutch viant, Dutch vijand "enemy," Old Norse fjandi, Old High German fiant, Gothic fijands), from suffixed form of PIE root *pe(i)- "to hurt" (cognates: Sanskrit pijati "reviles, scorns," Greek pema "suffering, misery, woe," Gothic faian "to blame," and possibly Latin pati "to suffer, endure"). According to Watkins, not allied to foe and feud (n.).

As spelling suggests, the word originally was the opposite of friend and described any hostile enemy (male and female, with abstract noun form feondscipe "fiendship"), but it began to be used in late Old English for "the Devil, Satan" (literally "adversary") as the "enemy of mankind," which shifted its sense to "diabolical person" (early 13c.). The old sense of the word devolved to foe, then to the imported word enemy. For spelling with -ie- see field. Meaning "devotee (of whatever is indicated)," as in dope fiend, is from 1865.

1. I have no idea who this murderous fiend may be.

我不知道这个杀人不眨眼的恶魔是谁.

来自《简明英汉词典》

2. A tearful husband repeated calls for help in catching the fiend who battered his wife.

泪流满面的丈夫不断呼喊求助，想抓到摧残他妻子的恶魔。

来自柯林斯例句

3. " I have already told thee what I am -- a fiend!

“ 我已经告诉过你我是什么了! 一个恶魔!

来自英汉文学 - 红字

4. Or am I given over utterly to the fiend?

还是我让魔鬼完全控制了?

来自英汉文学 - 红字

5. -- With all his own might , and the fiend's!

竭尽 他自己的, 以及魔鬼的全力!

来自英汉文学 - 红字