fein

See also: Fein, fèin, féin, fèin-, and féin-

German

Etymology

From Middle High German fīn, from Old French fin, ultimately from Latin finis. See English fine for more.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /faɪ̯n/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ̯n
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

fein (strong nominative masculine singular feiner, comparative feiner, superlative am feinsten)

  1. fine (not rough, coarse, or thick)
    sehr feines Mehl ― very fine flour
    ein feiner Sinn ― a fine sense
  2. (dated, except in certain expressions) fine; very good; as it should be
    ein feiner Kerl ― a fine young man
  3. refined; posh; fancy
    ein feines Restaurant ― a fancy restaurant
  4. (with zu and often reflexive dative) too good; not willing to do something or associate with it because one thinks it beneath one
    Er ist (sich) zu fein zum Abwaschen.
    He thinks himself too good for doing the dishes.
    Er ist (sich) zu fein für uns.
    He thinks himself too good for our company.

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Derived terms

Descendants
  • → Czech: fajn
  • → Polish: fajny
  • → Romanian: fain
  • → Serbo-Croatian: fajn

References

Entry fein in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm at woerterbuchnetz.de

Entry fîn in Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch von Matthias Lexer at woerterbuchnetz.de

Further reading
  • “fein” in Duden online
  • “fein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin faenum.

Noun

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

  1. hay

Descendants

Plautdietsch

Adjective

fein

  1. nice, good, fine

Romansch

Alternative forms
  • fain (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader)
  • fagn (Sutsilvan, Surmiran)

Etymology

From Latin fēnum, from faenum.

Noun

fein m

  1. (Sursilvan) hay

Derived terms
  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan) fanar
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