foin
fɔɪn
noun
Origin
Old French
foin — hay
Overview
Meaning Now
- A spear or thrusting attack; a jab with a pointed weapon.
- An archaic or dialectal term for hay.
Literal older meaning
hay; later, by extension, a thrust or lunge
Language path
Old French → Middle English → English
Earliest form
foin
Earliest period
Middle English, 13th century
Journey
In Middle English, many everyday agricultural words entered English from French after the Norman Conquest. Separately, fencing vocabulary also drew heavily on French, which helped preserve or reshape words connected with blows, thrusts, and footwork.
Evolution
- Old French
foin
“hay”
The common noun in French; this is the source of the English hay-sense.
- Middle English
foin
“hay”
Borrowed into English in agricultural usage.
- Middle English to Early Modern English
foin
“thrust; lunge”
A separate or extended use in fencing and martial contexts, probably influenced by French usage and by the notion of a pointed strike.
- Modern English
foin
“archaic/dialectal hay; literary martial thrust”
The hay-sense is rare and historical; the martial sense survives mainly in historical, literary, or technical discussion.
Connections
Word parts
foin
root
hay; later, thrust/lunge
Related across languages
French
hay
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Related to foin
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.