Etymologically
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freeze

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɹiːz/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English fresen, inherited from Old English frēosan (“to turn to ice”), a strong verb (past tense frēas, past participle froren),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *freusan,[2][3][5] source also of Dutch vriezen, Old Norse frjósa and German frieren (“to freeze”), and related to Gothic frius, frost.[2][3] It goes back to PIE *preus-, to freeze, also to burn,[2][5] seen in Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost”), Welsh rhew, frost, and Sanskrit pruṣvā, frost.[2][3][4] The modern spelling is an alteration of freese, friese.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Used impersonally, it freezes, the air is cold enough for ice to form: 971.[6][7][5]

Semantic evolution

Of weather, to be cold enough to freeze, and to be converted into ice, are from the 13th century,[2][5] and to perish from cold from about 1300.[2] The transitive sense, to harden into ice, is from the late 14th century (the 15th in Hoad),[2][5] and figuratively to make hard or unfeeling also from the late 14th century.[2] To become rigid or motionless is attested by 1720.[2] The noun, freezing conditions, is from about 1400.[2] To make assets non-transactable is from 1922, and to fix prices or wages at a certain level from 1933 (a noun freeze of this kind from 1942).[2][6] A freeze frame in film or television is from 1960.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 971 – it freezes.[6]
  • 13th century – to turn to ice.[5]
  • c. 1400 – the noun.[2]
  • 1720 – to become motionless.[2]
  • 1922 – to freeze assets.[2]
  • 1960 – freeze frame.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To change from a liquid to a solid, especially into ice, through cold.
  2. To cover, clog or harden with ice.
  3. To preserve food by keeping it at a very low temperature.
  4. To be very cold, or to be harmed or killed by cold.
  5. To become suddenly still or rigid, as from fear.
  6. To fix prices, wages or assets at a certain level, or to stop them being used.

Noun

  1. A period of very cold weather; a frost.
  2. A restriction keeping something at its present level: a wage freeze.

Word family

  • freezable
  • freezingly
  • freezability
  • adfreeze
  • antifreeze
  • deep-freeze
  • defreeze
  • flash-freeze
  • frore
  • frost
  • frosty
  • frozen
  • freezer
  • froze

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press