fele

F4E1L1E1

adverb

greatly, much, very

“So fele shippes this yere there ware / That moch losse for vnfreyght they bare. So fele ships this year there were / that much loss for unfreight they bore.”

OriginMiddle English fele ← Old English feola ← Proto-West Germanic *felu →
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Meanings

adverb

alternative feel · alternative feele · alternative fell

  1. dialectalobsoletegreatly, much, very

    For they bring in the substance of the Beere / That they drinken feele too good chepe, not dere.

    1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC
adjectivefele (comparative feler, superlative felest)

comparative feler · superlative felest · alternative feel · alternative feele · alternative fell

  1. dialectalobsoletemuch; many.

    So fele shippes this yere there ware / That moch losse for vnfreyght they bare. So fele ships this year there were / that much loss for unfreight they bore.

    1 more example

    This cruel monstre, […] Infect with fell venoum;

    1513, Gavin Douglas, Eneados
pronoun

alternative feel · alternative feele · alternative fell

  1. dialectalobsoletemany (of).

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pélh₁u“many”
  2. Proto-Germanic*felu“very, much”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*felu
  4. Old Englishfeola
  5. Middle Englishfele
  6. Englishfele

From Middle English fele, from Old English feola, fela (“much, many, very”), from Proto-West Germanic *felu, from Proto-Germanic *felu (“very, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *pélh₁u (“many”). Cognate with Scots fele (“many, much, great”), Dutch veel (“much, many”), German viel (“much, many”), Latin plūs (“more”), Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many”). Related to full, few.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

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Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

feelflee
Cite this entry
APA

fele. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fele

MLA

“fele.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fele. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fele,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fele.

Source: fele on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.