afraid (English)

Where does "afraid" come from?

The adjective 'afraid' entered Modern English from Middle English 'affrayed'[1], which was originally the past participle of 'afraien', meaning to affray or frighten[1]. English borrowed this term from Anglo-Norman 'afrayer', meaning to terrify or disturb[1], corresponding to Old French 'effreer' or 'esfreer'[1]. The Old French verb was formed from the prefix 'es-', meaning 'out', combined with 'freer', meaning 'to secure' or 'secure the peace'[1]. Its ultimate roots trace through the Frankish word '*friþu', meaning 'security' or 'peace'[1], back to Proto-Germanic '*friþuz'[1] and the Proto-Indo-European root '*prāy-', meaning 'to like' or 'love'[1]. Through these shifts, an ancient expression for removing someone from peace or tranquility evolved into the modern sense of feeling fear.

Open questions

The Frankish ancestor '*friþu' is an unattested, reconstructed Germanic form rather than a directly documented word. [1] [8]
Sources account for Old French 'esfreer' differently, deriving it either as a Romance compound of 'es-' and 'freer' or as an inheritance from Vulgar Latin '*exfridāre'. [1] [8]

Full etymology tree

afraid (English), 'Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.'
- inherited affrayed (Middle English)
  - derived afraien (Middle English), 'alternative form of affraien (“attack; disturb; frighten”)'
    - borrowed afrayer (Old French), 'alternative form of esfreer'
      - inherited effreer (Old French)
        inherited *exfridare (Latin), 'to frighten'
        prefix es- (Old French), 'indicates movement away or separation'
        affix freer (Old French)
        derived *friþu (Frankish)
        inherited *friþuz (Proto-Germanic), 'love, friendship'
        suffix *-þuz (Proto-Germanic), 'Forms result nouns from verb roots, usually from strong verbs.'
        inherited *-tus (Proto-Indo-European), 'Derives action nouns from verb roots.'
        affix *frijaz (Proto-Germanic), 'free'
        inherited *priHós (Proto-Indo-European), 'pleased'
        derived *preyH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to please'
        suffix *-ós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates adjectives from verb stems; they may have agentive or patientive meaning.'
        derived *frijōną (Proto-Germanic), 'to love'
        inherited *priHós (Proto-Indo-European), 'pleased'
        derived *preyH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to please'
        suffix *-ós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates adjectives from verb stems; they may have agentive or patientive meaning.'

Ancestors

*preyH- (Proto-Indo-European)
es (Old French)
*friþuz (Proto-Germanic)
*frijōną (Proto-Germanic)

Descendants and derived words

afraidly (English)
afraidness (English)
afraid of one's own shadow (English)
fraidy (English)
I am afraid of this (English)
I'm afraid not (English)
I'm afraid so (English)
unafraid (English)
unafraidly (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

More words starting with A

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris