fray.
To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe.
Meaning & usage
To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe.
To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe. Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose.
To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
To rub.
To rub. Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory.
Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out.
The hectic day ended in her nerves frayed.
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien (“to beat so as to cause bruising, to bruise; to crush; to rub; to wear, wear off”), borrowed from Old French fraier, freier, freiier (modern French frayer (“to clear, open up (a path, etc.); (figuratively) to find one’s way through (something); (obsolete) to rub”)), from Latin fricāre, the present active infinitive of fricō (“to chafe; to rub”), an intensive form of friō (“to break into pieces, crumble; to rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”). Sense 1.2 (“to force or make (a path, way, etc.) through”) is derived from modern French frayer: see above. The noun is derived from the verb.
A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
The laces frayed at the cut end.
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien (“to beat so as to cause bruising, to bruise; to crush; to rub; to wear, wear off”), borrowed from Old French fraier, freier, freiier (modern French frayer (“to clear, open up (a path, etc.); (figuratively) to find one’s way through (something); (obsolete) to rub”)), from Latin fricāre, the present active infinitive of fricō (“to chafe; to rub”), an intensive form of friō (“to break into pieces, crumble; to rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”). Sense 1.2 (“to force or make (a path, way, etc.) through”) is derived from modern French frayer: see above. The noun is derived from the verb.
To alarm or frighten (someone or something).
Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away.
To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking.
To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse.
To be afraid or frightened; to fear.
To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight.
Where this word comes from
From Late Middle English fraien (“to attack, invade; to make an attack; to brawl, fight; to make a loud noise (?); to frighten, terrify; to be frightened of (something), fear”), an aphetic variant of affraien (“to attack, invade; to harass; to brawl, fight; to riot; to reproach; to frighten, terrify; to be frightened of (something), fear; to alarm, disturb; to arouse, awaken, excite”) (whence affray), from Anglo-Norman affraier, afrayer (“to frighten, terrify; to disquiet; to disturb”) [and other forms], a variant of effreier, esfreier [and other forms], and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to frighten, scare; to be afraid”) [and other forms] (modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre, from Latin ex- (prefix indicating privation) + Frankish *friþu (“peace”) (from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace, tranquility; refuge, sanctuary”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preyH- (“to love; to please”)).
A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel.
Though they did not know the reason for the dispute, they did not hesitate to leap into the fray.
A heated argument; a war of words.
Conflict, disagreement.
An assault or attack.
A loud noise; a cacophony, a din.
Fright, terror; (countable) an instance of this.
Where this word comes from
From Late Middle English frai (“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; fine for assault or breach of the peace”), an aphetic variant of affrai, effrai (“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; public disturbance, riot; dismay; fear; something frightening”), then: * from affraien (verb); and * from Anglo-Norman affrai, affrei [and other forms], a variant of effray, effrei, esfrei, esfroi, Middle French effray, esfroi, and Old French effrei, esfrei, esfroi (“breach of the peace, disturbance; noise; dread, terror”) (modern French effroi (“(literary) dread, terror”)), from Old French effreer, esfreer (verb). See further at etymology 2.
To bear the expense of (something); to defray.
Where this word comes from
An aphetic variant of defray.
Try it on your idea.
fray has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.