neif

• IPA^(key): /niːf/, /neɪf/
• Rhymes: -iːf, -eɪf

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman neif m, niefe f (“native, serf”), from Latin nātīvus m, nātīva f (“native”). Doublet of naïf and native.

• neife, nief

neif (plural neifs)

1. (historical) A woman born in the state of serfdom; a female serf.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     Neifs indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force

neif (plural neifs)

1. Alternative spelling of nief (“fist”).

• “neif”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Enif, Fein, Fine, NiFe, feni, fine, ifen, nief, nife

neif (nominative plural neifs)

1. knife