fain

• faine (obsolete)

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• IPA^(key): /feɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophones: feign, fane, foehn

From Middle English fain, from Old English fægen, from Proto-Germanic *faganaz (“glad”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to make pretty, please oneself”); akin to Old Norse feginn (“glad, joyful”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌽 (faginōn, “to rejoice”), Old Norse fagna (“to rejoice”).[1]

fain (comparative more fain, superlative most fain)

1. (archaic) Well-pleased, glad.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “primum”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:

     Thus Gawayne and Ector abode to gyder
     For syre Ector wold not awey til Gawayne were hole
     & the good knyȝt Galahad rode so long tyll he came that nyghte to the Castel of Carboneck
     & hit befelle hym thus
     that he was benyghted in an hermytage
     Soo the good man was fayne whan he sawe he was a knyght erraunt

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

2. (archaic) Satisfied, contented.
   • 1883, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Death-Parting, line 11, Poems‎:

     O love, of my death my life is fain,

3. (archaic) Eager, willing or inclined to.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 125, column 2:

     Man and Birds are fayne of climbing high.

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], OCLC 1203220866:

     To a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his business.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, page 223:

     She who would fain give the starry worlds to the object of her affection—it is a fine and beautiful pride which makes her shrink from aught of benefit from him.

4. (archaic) Obliged or compelled to.

• 1900, Ernest Dowson, To One in Bedlam, lines 9-10

  O lamentable brother! if those pity thee,
  Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;

• (eager): eager, keen, raring

• (eager): averse, disinclined, reluctant, unwilling

From Middle English fain, fayn, feyn, from the adjective (see above).

fain (comparative fainer, superlative fainest)

1. (archaic) With joy; gladly.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene v]:

     Leonato: I would faine know what you haue to ſay.

   • 1633, John Donne, Holly Sonnets, XIV:

     Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
     But am betroth’d unto your enemy

   • 1719 April 25​, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407:

     The second thing I fain would have had was a tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible to me to make one…

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter XXV, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     ["]Fain would I add to my beauty and my length of days if that be possible.["]

   • 1891, George Du Maurier, Peter Ibbetson‎:

     […] and fain would I inhale it in all its pristine fulness and vigour.

2. (archaic) By will or choice.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 1:

     Gonzalo: Now would I giue a thouſand furlongs of Sea, for an Acre of barren ground: Long heath, Browne firrs, any thing; the wills aboue be done, but I would faine dye a dry death.

From Middle English fainen, from Old English fæġenian, from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn, from Proto-Germanic *faginōną.

fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)

1. (archaic) To be delighted or glad; to rejoice.
2. (archaic) To gladden.

• an if, fina, naif, naïf

From Latin fīnis, fīnem.

fain m

1. end

From Old English fæġen, from Proto-Germanic *faganaz (“glad”). The adverb is transferred from the adjective.

• IPA^(key): /fɛi̯n/

fain

1. joyful, happy
2. willing, eager
3. pleasing, enjoyable, attractive

• fagen, vain, fawe, fawen, vawe, fein, fane, fayn, fayne, vayn, feyn

fain

1. gladly, joyfully
2. willingly, eagerly

• fayn, faȝe, fawe, fawen, vawe, fene, vain, vayn, vein, veyn, vane, wane

• English: fain
• Scots: fain

• “fain, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “fain, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old French foin, from earlier fein, from Latin fēnum, from faenum.

fain m (uncountable)

1. (Jersey) hay

• fagot d'fain (“bundle of hay”)

• faim

From Latin famēs.

fain f (nominative singular fain)

1. hunger

• famine

• French: faim

Borrowed from German fein.

• IPA^(key): /fajn/

fain m or n (feminine singular faină, masculine plural faini, feminine and neuter plural faine)

1. (Transylvania) cool, fine, of good quality

• (Sursilvan) fein
• (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) fagn

From Latin fēnum, from faenum.

fain m

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) hay

• (Rumantsch Grischun) far fain
• (Puter) fer cul fain
• (Vallader) far cun fain

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan) fanar

fain

1. woman

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)