adjective / adverb
fain
FAYN/feɪn/
Glad or willing to do something.
The young man is fain to help with the heavy basket.
Etymology
Fægen described someone glad or joyful. Used as an adverb, fain shifted from describing that feeling to doing something gladly or willingly, as in “I would fain help.”
In context
Coastwise ships are hard to find, and winds blow north when all brave hearts would fain be speeding south.
More examples
- She would fain have helped him.
- The traveler was fain to accept the warm welcome.
- He would fain believe that the story was true.
Forms
fain
Similar words
- willing
- Willing is the ordinary modern equivalent; fain is literary or old-fashioned.
- gladly
- Gladly is the everyday adverb; fain commonly appears in would fain.