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Origin and history of -fid

-fid

word-forming element meaning "split, divided into parts," from Latin -fidus, related to findere "to split" (from PIE root *bheid- "to split").

Entries linking to -fid

quadrifid(adj.)

"having four lobes; deeply cut, but not entirely divided, into four parts," 1660s, from quadri- "four" + -fid.

trifid(adj.)

in botany and zoology, "divided into three lobes," 1620s, from Latin trifidus "cleft in three," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + -fid. This adjective might have inspired the name of the three-legged walking poisonous plants in John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" (1951).

*bheid-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split," with derivatives in Germanic "referring to biting (hence also to eating and to hunting) and woodworking" [Watkins].

It might form all or part of: abet; bait (n.) "food used to attract prey;" bait (v.) "to torment, persecute;" bateau; beetle (n.1) "type of insect; bit (n.1) "small piece;" bite; bitter; bitter end; boat; boatswain; -fid; fissile; fission; fissure; giblets; pita; pizza; vent (n.).

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit bhinadmi "I cleave," Latin Latin findere "to split, cleave, separate, divide," Old High German bizzan "to bite," Old English bita "a piece bitten off, morsel," Old Norse beita "to hunt with dogs," beita "pasture, food."

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