Etymology
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-fid

word-forming element meaning "split, divided into parts," from Latin -fidus, related to findere "to split" (from PIE root *bheid- "to split").

Entries linking to -fid

*bheid- 
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split," with derivatives in Germanic "referring to biting (hence also to eating and to hunting) and woodworking" [Watkins].

It forms all or part of: abet; bait (n.) "food used to attract prey;" bait (v.) "to torment, persecute;" bateau; beetle (n.1) "type of insect; bit (n.1) "small piece;" bite; bitter; bitter end; boat; boatswain; -fid; fissile; fission; fissure; giblets; pita; pizza; vent (n.).

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhinadmi "I cleave," Latin Latin findere "to split, cleave, separate, divide," Old High German bizzan "to bite," Old English bita "a piece bitten off, morsel," Old Norse beita "to hunt with dogs," beita "pasture, food."
quadrifid (adj.)

"having four lobes; deeply cut, but not entirely divided, into four parts," 1660s, from quadri- "four" + -fid.

trifid (adj.)
"divided into three lobes," 1620s, from Latin trifidus "cleft in three," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + -fid. This adjective probably inspired triffid, the name of the three-legged walking poisonous plants in John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" (1951).

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Dictionary entries near -fid

fictionalization

fictionalize

fictitious

fictive

ficus

-fid

fiddle

fiddle-faddle

fiddle-head

fiddler

fiddlestick

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