frenemy

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Blend of friend +‎ enemy. Likely to have been invented independently multiple times.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈfɹɛ.nɪ.mi/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Noun

frenemy (plural frenemies)

  1. (sometimes humorous) Someone who has traits of an enemy and a friend.
    • 1987, by Eric B. and Rakim (lyrics and music), “I Ain't No Joke”, in Paid in Full:
      Another enemy / Not even a frenemy.
    • 1998, New Radicals (lyrics and music), “You Get What You Give”:
      Frienemies who when you're down ain't your friend
    • 2001, John Lanchester, The Debt to Pleasure.‎:
      In France the Seine has all the advantages of Northernness (a quality underrated by our Gallic frenemy) but it is too fatally interested in Paris [...]
    • 2004, Andrea Semple, The Ex-Factor‎, back cover:
      You know when you dump a guy, only to discover years later that he's evolved into the perfect boyfriend—for the high-school frenemy who convinced you to dump him in the first place...?
    • 2005, Joanne Meyer, Single Girl's Guide to Murder‎, back cover:
      So why did we break up? Enter Blaize St. John, frenemy extraordinaire. She came, she saw, she stole my boyfriend.
    • 2007 June 18, Time:
      Gates made a rare and instructive appearance with his longtime frenemy Steve Jobs.
  2. (sometimes humorous) A fair-weather friend who is also a rival.
    • 2008 April 6, Erin Ehrlich, Six Characters in Search of a House (King of the Hill), season 12, episode 17, spoken by Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root):
      So, we're definitely not going to be friends with Ferguson? Maybe we can be frenemies. A love-hate relationship's the next best thing.

Synonyms
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Translations

See also
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