• Fremd

    Pronunciation

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    From Middle English fremede ("strange, foreign"), from Old English fremde, fremede, fremeþe ("foreign, strange"), from Proto-Germanic *framaþiz ("foreign, not one's own"), from Proto-Indo-European *perəm-, *prom- ("forth, forward"), from *por- ("forward, through"). Cognate with Scots fremd ("fremd"), West Frisian frjemd ("strange, fremd"), Dutch vreemd ("strange, exotic"), German fremd ("strange, foreign"), Swedish främmande ("foreign, outlandish, strange"). More at from.

    Full definition of fremd

    Adjective

    fremd

    1. (rare or chiefly dialectal) Strange; foreign; alien; outlandish; far off or away; distant.
      • 1873, Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine:... and if I'm to be no more hereafter to them that belong to me, than to legions of strange angels, or a whole nation of fremd folk !
    2. (rare or chiefly dialectal) Not akin; unrelated.
      • 1875, John Howard Nodal, George Milner, A glossary of the Lancashire dialect:Thus, a person living with a family to whom he is not related is termed "a fremd body." If it were asked, "Is he akin to you?" the answer would be, "Nawe, he's fremd," i.e. "he's one of us, but not a relation."
      • 1851, Mrs. Oliphant (Margaret), Passages in the life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland of Sunnyside:... seeing that they were fremd in heart, if they were kin in blood.
    3. (rare or chiefly dialectal) Out of the ordinary; unusual; unwonted.a fremd day
    4. (rare or chiefly dialectal) Strange; weird; outlandish; singular; odd; queer.A fremd man this. — Hodgson MS.
    5. (archaic or obsolete) Wild; untamed.

    Derived terms

    Noun

    fremd

    (plural fremds)
    1. (rare or chiefly dialectal) stranger; guest
    2. (archaic or obsolete) an enmity
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