fond
- 1Having a liking or affection for someone or something.
He is fond of long walks along the coast.
The children were fond of their new teacher from the first day.
UsageUsually fond of + noun or -ing: fond of long walks, fond of telling stories.
Similarkeen, partial, attached, enamored
Oppositeaverse
Note
The everyday sense today, though the word began in folly: Middle English fond was the past participle of fonnen, "to be foolish, dote," and the "foolish, naive" meaning keeps that older shade. Now it almost always takes of: Washington Irving in 1824 describes someone "fond of telling his adventures." Shakespeare could still write "more fond on her," where modern usage expects of.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Fond derives from Middle English fond, a past participle of fonnen, meaning to be foolish or dote. en.wiktionary.org
- The foolish or naive sense preserves the older meaning. en.wiktionary.org
- The Irving quotation belongs to Tales of a Traveller, first published in 1824. en.wikipedia.org
- Irving uses the exact phrase; an unnamed old gentleman describes his uncle this way in 'A Hunting Dinner'. gutenberg.org
- Shakespeare wrote 'more fond on her'; Oberon speaks the line in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, scene i. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
- 2Feeling or showing warm, tender affection, sometimes in an indulgent or doting way.
He wrote a fond letter to his sister every week.
Their fond reunion at the airport moved everyone nearby.
UsageGoes before the noun: a fond farewell, fond memories.
Similaraffectionate, loving, tender, warm, doting
Oppositecold, unfriendly
Note
It describes affection as it shows itself in a gesture, a parting or a person's whole manner, rather than naming what someone is attached to.
- 3Doted on; regarded with affection by others.
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer.
1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s PilgrimageNote
The affection runs the other way: a fond abode is one that is loved, not one that loves. Lord Byron still uses it in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818): "Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!" The sense lives on in set phrases such as my fondest wish or his fondest hopes, meaning dearest.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Fond has an obsolete passive meaning: regarded with affection. en.wiktionary.org
- Lord Byron wrote Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, published in parts from 1812 to 1818. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 4The brown residue that forms in a pan from cooking meats and vegetables.
After searing the steak, she deglazed the pan to lift the fond into a sauce.
The fond clinging to the skillet gave the gravy its rich color.
UsageCooks scrape up or lift the fond when they deglaze a pan.
Note
Cooks prize this residue rather than scrub it away. After meat or vegetables are seared, liquid poured into the hot pan lifts the browned bits. This step is called deglazing, and the result becomes the base of a classic French pan sauce or a gravy.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Cooks value fond for its flavor and use it in sauces. ice.edu
- Cooking meat or vegetables leaves deposits that added liquid helps release from the hot pan. escoffier.edu
- Releasing browned residue with liquid is called deglazing and supplies flavor for sauces and gravies. en.wikipedia.org
- 5Foolish or naive; now used mainly of a hope or belief that is unlikely to come true ('a fond hope').
They set out in the fond hope that the storm would pass by morning.
She laughed off his fond notions about getting rich overnight.
UsageUsually a fond hope or in the fond hope that something will happen.
Similarnaive, foolish, vain, unrealistic
Oppositerealistic
Note
The old foolishness survives in modern English, usually attached to hopes and notions: fond dreams of flying to Jupiter are dreams that the facts will not support. Plain silliness is the older, now archaic shade, while a phrase like a fond hope still reads naturally.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Fond has an older sense meaning foolish or silly, now archaic. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A fund, stock, or store of something kept in reserve.
Note
Here fond means exactly what its doublet fund still means: a stock or store to draw on. The two share the descent traced under the lace-making term.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Fond formerly meant a fund, stock, or store. en.wiktionary.org
- Fund and the noun fond are doublets ultimately deriving from Latin fundus. en.wiktionary.org
- 7To have a foolish affection for someone; to dote on.
Note
A verb that once meant what being fond of means now, with the old foolishness built in. It inflected regularly as fonds, fonding and fonded, so its past was never fond itself. It has dropped out of use, and in modern English be fond of or dote on does its work.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The obsolete verb fond meant to have a foolish affection for someone. en.wiktionary.org
- This verb has the regular forms fonds, fonding and fonded; its past tense is fonded. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To caress, stroke, or gently fondle.
The Tyrian hugs and fonds thee on her breast.
1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”Note
Dryden's translation of the Aeneid (1697) pairs it with a near-synonym: "The Tyrian hugs and fonds thee on her breast." Fondle is the word that carries this meaning now.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Dryden's translation of the Aeneid was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
- The quoted line occurs in Dryden's translation and pairs fonds with hugs. en.wikisource.org
- 9The foundation, bottom, or groundwork of something.
- 10A group of records that share the same origin or provenance.
- 11The background design that forms the ground of a piece of lace.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Fonnen ("to be foolish, be simple, dote") was a Middle English verb, and its past participle, fond or fonned, gives us the word. It can be analyzed as fon plus -ed.
The word came from French and goes back in the end to Latin fundus. Fund and fundus are doublets of it.