Wiktionary

befriend

English

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WOTD – 11 April 2026

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi
Proto-Germanic *bider.
Proto-Germanic *bi-
Proto-West Germanic *bi-
Old English be-
Middle English bi-
English be-
Proto-Indo-European *preyH-
Proto-Indo-European *-ós
Proto-Indo-European *priHós
Proto-Germanic *frijōną
Proto-Germanic *frijōndz
Proto-West Germanic *friund
Old English frēond
Middle English frend
English friend
English befriend

    From be- (intensifying prefix) +‎ friend (verb).[1]

    cognates

    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    befriend (third-person singular simple present befriends, present participle befriending, simple past and past participle befriended) (transitive)

    1. (also figurative) To become a friend of (someone), to make friends with (someone).
      Antonyms: alienate, befoe, defriend, unfriend
      • c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 86, column 1:
        Good Seruilius, vvill you befriend mee ſo farre, as to vſe mine ovvne vvords to him?
      • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Solitude”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 143:
        […] I was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature, […] Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me.
        A figurative use.
      • 1937 May, Eddie Allen, “You’re Wrong about Elephants”, in H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, editor, Popular Mechanics Magazine, volume 67, number 5, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 676, column 2:
        This particular trainer who had repeatedly befriended "Willie" [an elephant] in many other ways, left the circus for a short time and upon returning to the lot approached him, thinking "Willie" would remember him. As he drew near "Willie" knocked him down and wrapped his trunk around his body. Only the intervention of the entire menagerie force saved him.
      • 1989, Michael Lewis, “Learning to Love Your Corporate Culture”, in Liar’s Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street, New York, N.Y.; London: Penguin Books, published 1990, →ISBN, page 43:
        Befriending one of the 112 managing directors was not enough; you had to befriend a managing director with clout. There was one small problem, of course. Bosses were not always eager to befriend trainees.
      • 1999, Jonathan Cole, “The Spectator”, in About Face (A Bradford Book), Cambridge, Mass.; London: The MIT Press, →ISBN, page 121:
        "We had a professional relationship, whereas the previous vicar was a friend and had befriended me." / "Were you available to befriend people? You said it in a passive voice, as though others befriended you.
      • 2002, Jan Yager, “Detecting Harmful People before They’re Friends”, in When Friendship Hurts: How to Deal with Friends Who Betray, Abandon, or Wound You (A Fireside Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, part 1 (Friendship: The Basics), page 47:
        Negative sibling relations or harmful friendships during the childhood or teen years could make the adult Loner fearful of friendships. […] If you want to befriend the Loner, you have to be willing to show patience as he becomes more comfortable with you and what friendship entails.
      • 2006, Christiane Sanderson, “Understanding Child Sexual Abuse”, in Counselling Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 3rd edition, London; Philadelphia, Pa.: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 17:
        Child sexual abusers are highly manipulative in their befriending of parents and children and are able to deceive all types of family.
    2. (dated except social work) To act as a friend to (someone, especially a client) by providing companionship and support; to assist, to help.
      • 1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, “Directions to the Groom”, in Directions to Servants […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and M. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 69:
        [B]e ſure employ ſome of the Servants to hold the Horſe vvhen your Maſter mounts. This I vvould have you do, vvhen your Maſter only alights, to call in for a fevv Minutes: For Brother-ſervants muſt alvvays befriend one another, and that alſo concerns your Maſter's Honour; becauſe he cannot do leſs than give a Piece of Money to him vvho holds his Horſe.
      • 1916, Theodore Dreiser, “A Lush, Egyptian Land”, in A Hoosier Holiday, New York, N.Y.: John Lane; London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, →OCLC, page 417:
        [O]ne house, a red one, occupied by an Irish section boss, whose wife (my mother having befriended her years before when first she and her husband came to Sullivan) had now, at the time my mother was compelled to make this return pilgrimage, befriended us by letting us stay—mother and us three youngsters—until she could find a house.
      • 1939, Philip Lindsay, “Ruffians’ Hall Stands Open”, in A Mirror for Ruffians (Essay Index Reprint Series), Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, published 1972, →ISBN, page 353:
        All [Benito] Mussolini's life is contradiction. He fled to Switzerland to escape military service, and there was befriended by the revolutionary, Angelica Balabanoff, who, pitying him in his misery and loneliness, befriended him, helping him translate a German pamphlet because he did not know the language.
      • 1989, Philip Burnard, “What is Counselling?”, in Counselling Skills for Health Professionals, London: Chapman and Hall, →ISBN, page 2:
        The social worker very clearly befriends the families with whom she works, and the GP becomes a friend to many of his patients.
    3. (figurative) To benefit or favour (someone or something); also, to advocate or promote (someone or something).
      • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], signature I3, recto:
        Hence therefore, euery leader to his charge, / For on their anſvvere vvill vve ſet on them, / And God befriend vs as our cauſe is juſt.
      • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 118, column 1:
        Sooth[sayer]. […] [I]f it vvill pleaſe Cæſar / To be ſo good to Cæſar, as to heare me: / I ſhall beſeech him to befriend himſelfe. / Por[tia]. VVhy knovv'ſt thou any harme's intended tovvards him?
      • 1608 May 11 (date delivered), Jos[eph] Hall, “Pharisaisme and Christianitie: Compared and Set foorth in a Sermon at Paules-Cross, May I. 1608.”, in A Recollection of Such Treatises as Haue Bene heretofore Seuerally Published and are Nowe Reuised, Corrected, Augmented. […], London: […] [Humfrey Lownes] for Arthur Iohnson, Samuel Macham and Laurence Lisle, published 1615, →OCLC, page 609:
        Thy vſurie, extorting, racking, incloſing, hath vvounded vvhole Villages, and novv thou befriendeſt tvvo or three vvith the plaiſters of thy bountie.
      • 1614, Lucius Annaeus Seneca [i.e., Seneca the Younger], “Of Benefits. Chapter XV.”, in Thomas Lodge, transl., The Workes of Lucius Annæus Seneca, both Morrall and Naturall. […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, 6th booke, page 122:
        Hovv greatly befriendeth he vs, that keepeth our houſe from falling, that vnderproppeth it vvith great cunning, and vpholdeth it in the aire, being cleft and vvinde-ſhaken from the very foundation: […]
      • 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act II, page 19:
        Novv if your plots be ripe, you are befriended / With opportunity; […]
      • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC, page 28:
        Be thou the firſt true Merit to befriend; / His praiſe is loſt, vvho ſtays till All commend; […]
      • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 58:
        [S]ee them embarqued; / And tell me if the VVinds and Seas befriend them.
      • 1728 (date written), Edward Young, The Brothers. A Tragedy. […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1753, →OCLC, Act II, page 18:
        VVait an Occaſion that befriends your VVishes.
      • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Morrison’s Pill”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 24:
        How do you agree with God's Universe and the actual Reality of things? This Universe has its Laws. If we walk according to the Law, the Law-Maker will befriend us; if not, not.
        A figurative use.

    Conjugation

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    Conjugation of befriend
    infinitive (to) befriend
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular befriend befriended
    2nd-person singular befriend, befriendest† befriended, befriendedst†
    3rd-person singular befriends, befriendeth† befriended
    plural befriend
    subjunctive befriend befriended
    imperative befriend —
    participles befriending befriended

    † Archaic or obsolete.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^ “befriend, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “befriend, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

    Further reading

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