FromMiddle Englishfeu, fromMiddle Frenchfé(“fief”),fié,fief,fieu, fromLatinfeodum.
feu (pluralfeus)
- (Scots law, property law, historical)Land held infeudaltenure.
feu (third-person singular simple presentfeus,present participlefeuing,simple past and past participlefeued)
- (Scots law, transitive) To bring (land) under the system of feudal tenure.
- 1813,"Keith", Entry inNicholas Carlisle,A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Volume II,unnumbered page,
- The Village of OLD KEITH is of ancient date, having been partlyfeued by the predecessors of the Family of Forbes, and partlyfeued by the Ministers, and stands upon the glebe: this Village is greatly on the decline, and almost a ruin.—About the year 1750, the late Lord FINDLATER divided a barren Muir, andfeued it out in small lots […] .
- 1841, Alexander Dunlop, J. M. Bell, John Murray, James Donaldson (reporters),Cases Decided in the Court of Session, Volume 3, 2nd Series,page 620,
- The prohibition offeuing beyond a certain extent was clearly implied; […] .
2001, Richard Rodger, “The Transformation of Edinburgh: Land, Property and Trust in the Nineteenth Century”, inPaperback,Cambridge University Press, published2004,page68:But in effect, whereas Heriot's knew that theirfeuing conditions were subordinate to the law of contract, the Earl of Moray knew by 1822 that as a result of the Lords' decision in 1818 estate development could not be controlled by contract law and thefeuing plan.[…]The impact on the Moray estate was that[…]despite a recession in the Edinburgh property market generally after 1826, virtually the entire estate wasfeued by 1836.
etymologically unrelated terms
- “feu”, inMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- *Auguste Brachet (1873), “fief”, inAn etymological dictionary of the French language[1]
FromLatinfoedus.
feu m sg (feminine singularfea,neuter singularfeo,masculine pluralfeos,feminine pluralfees)
- ugly
- bad,gloomy (weather)
Inherited fromOld Catalanfeu, fromVulgar Latin*feus, fromFrankish*fehu, fromProto-Germanic*fehu.
feu m (pluralfeus)
- fiefdom,fee
See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.
(second-person plural present, subjunctive, imperative)
(third-person singular preterite)
feu
- inflection offer:
- second-personpluralpresentindicative/subjunctive
- third-personsingularpreteriteindicative
- second-personpluralimperative
feu (femininefea,masculine pluralfeus,feminine pluralfees)
- (Alghero)ugly
- (Alghero)ungrateful
- (Alghero) notgood
- (Alghero) morallybad
- “feu, -ea”, inDiccionari d'Alguerés, 21 May 2022 (last accessed)
- “feu”, inDiccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition,Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan:Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “feu”, inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2025
- “feu” inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “feu” inDiccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Inherited fromOld Frenchfu, fromLatinfocus(“hearth”), which in Late and Vulgar Latin replaced the Classical Latinignis(“fire”).
feu m (pluralfeux)
- fire
- As-tu remarqué que tes cheveux sontenfeu ? ―Have you noticed that your hair is onfire?
- (uncountable, informal)lighter, something tolight acigarette with
- Tu aurais dufeu ? ―You got a light?
- traffic light
- feux tricolores ―(please add an English translation of this usage example)
- feux de signalisation ―(please add an English translation of this usage example)
1999, Patrick Lemaire,Psychologie cognitive:« Si lefeu est vert, je passe »
« Si lefeu est rouge, je m'arrête »- ‘If thelight is green, I go.’
‘If thelight is red, I stop.’
- headlights
- feux de croisement ―low-beams
- feux de route ―high-beams
- feux de position ―parking lights
- feux de détresse ―hazard lights
- → Karipúna Creole French:djife
Inherited fromOld Frenchfeüz,fadude(“one who has accomplished his destiny”), fromVulgar Latin*fatutus, fromLatinfatum(“destiny”).
feu (femininefeue,masculine pluralfeus,feminine pluralfeues)
- deceased, thelate
Elle était la sœur defeu Jean Dupont- She was the sister of thelate Jean Dupont
- 2025 (May 28), Joël-Denis Bellavance, "Discours du Trône: Un roi au service du Canada,"La Presse:
Le roi a souligné dans la portion qu’il a écrite que sa mère,feu la reine Élisabeth II, avait aussi lancé les travaux parlementaires il y a près de 70 ans.- In the section [of the Throne Speech] that he wrote, the King emphasized that his mother, thelate Queen Elizabeth II, had also launched the work of Parliament nearly 70 years ago.
- Whenfeu is used as a normal attributive adjective, and therefore follows an article or possessive adjective, it varies for number and person:ma feue mère; les feus rois. However,feu can also precede an article or possessive adjective, in which case it has traditionally been treated as invariable:feu sa femme; feu madame Tremblay; feu ses mère et père. In the reformed grammar, treating it as variable in either case is now tolerated:feue ma tante.Feu cannot be a predicative adjective.
- Like the English "late," this adjective is usually only used with someone recently deceased. One would not say, e.g.,feuSocrate except for humorous effect. Likewise, a form such asle feu pape would typically only be used to refer to the most recently deceased pope.
- Feu is increasingly restricted to formal or legal use;défunt orregretté are now more common:mon défunt père; le regretté monsieur Dupont.
- According to some authorities, the form with the invariable adjective, e.g.feu le pape, can only be used while the office in question remains vacant, althoughle feu pape could still be used once there is a new pope.
feu
- alternative form offewe
FromOld Frenchfu.
feu m (pluralfeux)
- fire
Inherited fromOld Frenchfeüz,fadude(“one who has accomplished his destiny”), fromVulgar Latin*fatutus, fromLatinfatum(“destiny”).
feu m (feminine singularfeue,masculine pluralfeus,feminine pluralfeues)
- deceased, thelate
Et pour satisfaire à la requeste de Villegagnon, apres quefeu Monsieur l’Admiral, auquel pour le mesme effect il avoit aussi escrit[...]- And in order to satisfy Villegagnon's request, after thatthe late Mister Admiral, to whom by the same reason he wrote too[...]
FromOld Frenchfeu, fromLatinfocus(“hearth”).
feu m (pluralfeux)
- (Jersey)fire
- (Jersey, medicine)rash
Ultimately fromLatinfoedus. CompareSpanishfeo.
feu
- (Campidanese)dirty
FromOld Frenchfieu(“fief”).
feu (pluralfeus)
- (Scots law, property law)feud,tenure, piece of land held by that tenure
feu (third-person singular simple presentfeus,present participlefeuin,simple past and past participlefeuit)
- togrant orhold land by tenure
- feuar(“one who holds land in feu”)
FromLatinfocus.
feu ?
- fire
