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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

fine

/ˈfaɪ̯n/
Of superior quality.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English fin, fyn, from Old French fin (“fine, minute, exact”), of obscure origin, but probably derived from Latin fīnīre (“to finish”) or fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”), with an abstract sense of fine or thin also arising in many Romance languages (compare Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish fino). Doublet of fino.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English fyn, fyne, from Old French fin, from Medieval Latin fīnis (“a payment in settlement or tax”). Doublet of fin and finis.

    Etymology 3

    From Italian fine (“end”). French fin. Doublet of fin and finis.

    Etymology 4

    From Middle English finen, fynen, from Old French finer, finir. See finish (transitive verb).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishfin
      • derivedOld Frenchfin “fine, minute, exact”
        • derivedLatinfīniō “to finish”
          • partLatinfīnis “boundary, limit”
            • derived (possibly)Proto-Indo-European*dʰeygʷ- “to stick, set up”
          • partLatin-iō
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*-yéti
            • derivedLatin-ō “denominative”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*-yeti
        • derivedMedieval Latinfīnis “a payment in settlement or tax”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishfyn
    • borrowedItalianfine “end”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishfinen
      • derivedOld Frenchfiner

    Related: English fin (doublet), English fino (doublet), English finis (doublet), it, pt, es fino

    Meanings

    adj
    1. Of superior quality.
    2. Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory.
    3. Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory; having one's well-being be no cause for concern.
    4. Good-looking, attractive.
    5. Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.
    6. Showy; overdecorated.
    adv
    1. Well, nicely, in a positive, agreeable way.
    2. Finely; elegantly; delicately.
    3. In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be barely deflected, the object ball being driven to one side.
    intj
    1. Expression of (typically) reluctant or agreement.
    2. Expression of (typically) reluctant acceptance, without further argument or discussion, of another person's viewpoint.
    noun
    1. Fine champagne; French brandy.
    2. Something that is fine; fine particles.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: fine