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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fright.

A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fɹaɪt/UK, US/fɹʌit/Canada, Northern-US

  1. A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.

    countable · uncountable

  2. Someone strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furhtį̄ (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k- (“to fear”). Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹 (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).

verb/fɹaɪt/UK, US/fɹʌit/Canada, Northern-US

  1. To frighten.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furhtį̄ (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k- (“to fear”). Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹 (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).

adj/fɹaɪt/UK, US/fɹʌit/Canada, Northern-US

  1. frightened; afraid; affright

    rare
Where this word comes from

Probably short for affright, from Middle English afright, from Old English āfyrht, past participle of āfyrhtan (“to make afraid; terrify”).

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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.