frenemy
/ˈfɹɛ.nɪ.mi/noun
frenemy is spelled F-R-E-N-E-M-Y: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, frenemy means “Someone who has traits of an enemy and a friend” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of frenemy is frenemies.
How many letters and syllables are in frenemy?
| Letters | 7: F-R-E-N-E-M-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 93,703rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is frenemy?
Frenemy appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 93,703rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce frenemy?
- /ˈfɹɛ.nɪ.mi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-frenemy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of frenemy
- frenemies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does frenemy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Someone who has traits of an enemy and a friend.
- 2
A fair-weather friend who is also a rival.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Frenemy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ennami, frennemie, frennemi , meilleur ennemi |
| Portuguese | aminimigo, aminimiga |
| Spanish | amienemigo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does frenemy come from?
Blend of friend + enemy. Invented independently multiple times. Attested in 1952 without any scare quotes or self-referential apology, clearly suggesting that the writer expected his audience to be unsurprised by encountering the word, but used by other writers in 1979 and 1992 in ways that indicate that those writers considered it a nonce blend and expected that their audiences would view it that way too; these examples are evidence that the word existed for many decades during which it was not yet widely familiar or established (which it now is).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).