What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Foe vs Hoe - What's the difference?

foe | hoe |

As nouns the difference between foe and hoe

is that foe is an enemy while hoe is an agricultural tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows.

As an adjective foe

is hostile.

As an initialism FoE

is friends of the Earth.

As a verb hoe is

to cut, dig, scrape, turn, arrange, or clean, with this tool.

foe

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) fo 'foe; hostile', from earlier ifo 'foe', from (etyl) 'to hate, be hostile' (compare Middle Irish oech 'enemy, fiend', Latin piget 'he is annoying', Lithuanian piktas ‘evil’, Albanian pis ‘dirty, scoundrel’).

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Hostile.
  • *, vol.1, ch.23:
    • he, I say, could passe into Affrike onely with two simple ships or small barkes, to commit himselfe in a strange and foe countrie, to engage his person, under the power of a barbarous King.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An enemy.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foe s’ glee.}}
    Synonyms
    * (enemy) adversary, enemy, opponent
    Antonyms
    * (enemy) ally, friend

    Etymology 2

    An acronym of "fifty-one ergs", coined by Gerald Brown of Stony Brook University in his work with Hans Bethe.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A unit of energy equal to 1044 joules.

    • Anagrams

    *

    hoe

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) howe, from (etyl) houe, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An agricultural tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows.
  • * 2009 , TRU TV, 28 March:
    • It was obvious that it consisted of several blows to the head from the hoe .
  • The horned or piked dogfish.
    • Derived terms
    * backhoe

    Verb

    (d)
  • (ambitransitive) To cut, dig, scrape, turn, arrange, or clean, with this tool.
    • to hoe the earth in a garden
    Every year, I hoe my garden for aeration.
    I always take a shower after I hoe in my garden.
  • To clear from weeds, or to loosen or arrange the earth about, with a hoe.
    • to hoe corn
    Derived terms
    * long row to hoe

    See also

    * mattock * pick * rake

    External links

    *

    Etymology 2

    From non-rhotic whore.

    Alternative forms

    * ho

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US, slang) A prostitute.
  • * 2002 , Eithne Quinn, Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap
    • […] this chapter […] will […] explore why pimp (and hoe ) characters, with their dramatic staging of gendered and occupational relations […] have taken such hold of the black youth imagination
  • * 2003 , Dan Harrington, The Good Eye
    • At school they had been among the only couples that had not done “it” at the Pimp & Hoe parties that popped up occasionally at the dorm
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (d)
  • (US, slang) To act as a prostitute.
  • * 2003 , Da’rel the Relentless One, M. T. Pimp
    • Pimpin’ came so naturally to MT when he and his sisters played pimp and hoe games that one of his sisters wanted to hoe for him when they grew up.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A piece of land that juts out towards the sea; a promontory.

    • Usage notes

    * Now used only in placenames e.g. "Plymouth Hoe". ----