fond
Affectionate, or having a strong liking.
Played on · Day 37 · word 3 of 5
Affection with a foolish past
How fond reached English
oldest firstMiddle English
fonne
‘A fool’
within Middle English: A noun for a fool gives rise to an adjective describing foolishness.
Middle English
fonned / fond
‘Foolish’
became English: the affectionate sense grows alongside older foolish uses.
English
fond
‘Affectionate’
The story of fond
Middle English fond and fonned came from fonne, fool. The affectionate adjective retains an older foolish sense in its history.
The cooking noun fond has a separate French history. These adjective senses can overlap rather than replacing each other at one precise date.
Source
Merriam-Webster: fondAdjective sense 4, first-use record and Word History establish the foolish sense and Middle English noun.