# feed

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈfiːd/ · frequency rank #2,155

## Definitions
1. To give (someone or something) food to eat.
2. To eat (usually of animals).
3. To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
4. To give to a machine to be processed.
5. To supply (a machine) with something to be processed.
6. To satisfy, gratify, or minister to (a sense, taste, desire, etc.).
7. To supply with something.
8. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle.
9. To pass to.
10. To create the environment where another phonological rule can apply; to be applied before (another rule).
11. To create the syntactic environment in which another syntactic rule is applied; to be applied before (another syntactic rule).

## Etymology
From Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan (“to feed”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną (“to feed”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”). Cognate with West Frisian fiede (“to nourish, feed”), Dutch voeden (“to feed”), Danish føde (“to bring forth, feed”), Swedish föda (“to bring forth, feed”), Icelandic fæða (“to feed”), and more distantly with Latin pāscō (“feed, nourish”, verb) through Indo-European. More at food, fodder.

## Easily confused with
- **few** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-few)
- **foe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-foe)
- **FEI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fei)
- **fer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fer)
- **fey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fey)
- **fez** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fez)
- **fem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fem)
- **fen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fen)
- **FES** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fes)
- **FET** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fet)
- **feu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-feu)
- **FTE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fte)
- **fie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fie)
- **find** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-find)
- **feel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-feel)
- **free** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-free)
- **food** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-food)
- **felt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-felt)
- **feet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-feet)
- **fell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feed-vs-fell)

## Common misspellings (4)
`efed`, `fede`, `feedd`, `ffeed`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/feed