befriend

Etymology

It is formed from English be- + friend.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Most dictionaries take the base as the noun,^[2][4][5][8] the OED as the verb friend.^[3] Compare German befreunden.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To act as a friend to, to help or favour: 1559, in the Mirror for Magistrates.^[3][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1550s^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1550–60.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The plain verb friend had been used occasionally since about 1200 for "to be friends", but befriend became the usual verb for acting as a friend.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as to favour, to be kind to, to show friendship to, to benefit, quoting Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Pope and Swift,^[7] and Webster (1828) as to favour, act as a friend to, aid or benefit.^[10] The general sense "to help, further" survives, as in winds or chance befriending someone.^[3][7] In 1962 a special sense arose among the Samaritans: to give the support and company of a friend to a person in distress, in a lay capacity.^[3]

Timeline

• 1559 – to act as a friend to; to help, favour.^[3][4]
• 1962 – of a Samaritan, to give a client a friend's companionship and support.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become or act as a friend to; to show kindness and sympathy to: The old fisherman befriended the new boy in the village.^[4][11][3]
2. To help or favour; to assist: Fortune befriended them on the crossing.^[11][3][7]
3. Of a volunteer with the Samaritans, to give the support of a friend to a person in distress.^[3]

Word family

• unbefriended
• befriender

Related words

• friend
• friendly
• free

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins