Etymologically
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English

fond

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɒnd/ (Received Pronunciation), /fɑnd/ (General American)[1]

Etymology

From Middle English fonned, past-participle adjective of the obsolete verb fonnen “to be foolish”,[2][3][4] from fonne “a fool” (early 14th century),[2][5] a word of uncertain origin, perhaps Scandinavian.[2] Random House gives the original sense of fonnen as “to lose flavour, go sour”,[4] and Etymonline suggests this may be the word's original meaning, citing Wycliffe's Gif þe salt be fonnyd (c. 1380).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Infatuated, foolish, silly”, recorded from before 1340 according to the OED;[6] Etymonline gives “deranged, insane” and “foolish, silly” from the late 14th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The meaning moved from “foolish” through “foolishly tender, doting” to “having a strong affection for”, established by the 1570s.[2][6] Compare dote, which developed in a similar way.[2] Since the 16th century the older sense has been used in literature chiefly as “foolishly credulous or sanguine”.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1340 – “infatuated, foolish, silly”.[6]
  • c. 1380 – “having lost its savour; insipid”.[6][2]
  • c. 1400 – “idiotic, mad, dazed”.[6]
  • 1579 – “foolishly tender, doting”.[6]
  • 1590 – “having a strong affection or liking for”, with of.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having a liking or affection for someone or something, usually with of.[3][5][4][1]
  2. Affectionate, loving.[3][5][4][1]
  3. Overly indulgent; doting.[3][5][4][1]
  4. Cherished, held dear.[3][5][4]
  5. (archaic) Foolish, or naively credulous.[3][5][4][1]

Word family

  • fondly
  • fondness, fondle, overfond

Related words

  • dote
  • fond (noun), the background of a design in lace, is an unrelated word from French, ultimately from Latin fundus (“bottom”).

References

  1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Last edited on 5 October 2026.