foe

Meanings

Adjective

• Hostile.

Noun

• An enemy.
• A unit of energy equal to 10⁴⁴ joules.

Related

Similar words

• adversary, enemy, opponent.
• bethe (B)

Opposite words

• ally, friend

Origin

• From Middle English fo ("foe; hostile"), from earlier ifo, from Old English ġefāh ("enemy"), from fāh, from Proto-West Germanic *faih, from Proto-Germanic *faihaz (compare Old Frisian fāch ("punishable"), Middle High German gevēch ("feuder")), from Proto-Indo-European *peik/k̑- ("to hate, be hostile") (compare Middle Irish óech ("enemy, fiend"), Lithuanian pìktas ("evil")).
• Acronym of fifty-one ergs, due to the value of a "foe", 1 foe = 10⁵¹ergs; coined by Gerald Brown of Stony Brook University in his work with Hans Bethe.