freight

Pronunciation

• IPA: /freɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Dutch vracht or Middle Low German vrecht, a variant,^[2][3][4] probably from an unrecorded Old Frisian word cognate with Old High German frēht, earnings,^[2] from the base of Gothic fra-, for, and aihts, property, from aigan, to have (see owe and fraught).^[2] Danish fragt and Swedish frakt are also from Dutch or Frisian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cargo of a ship: 1228, as fraght;^[2] the hire of a ship to carry goods, 1463 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The transporting of goods or passengers by water, and the money paid for passage, are from 1389,^[2][3] and the spelling freight from 1442.^[2] Anything carried as a load is from 1502,^[5] and a figurative burden from 1618.^[5] The verb, to load a ship, is from before 1375 as fraughten and the 15th century as freighten;^[2][3] to carry or transport is from the 1530s.^[3] Freighter is from 1622, first one who loads a ship.^[2] Goods carried by rail or road, and freight trains, belong to modern American usage.^[6]

Timeline

• 1228 – fraght, a cargo.^[2]
• before 1375 – to load a ship.^[2]
• 1389 – the carriage of goods; passage money.^[2]
• 1442 – the spelling freight.^[2]
• 1622 – freighter.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Goods carried by ship, aircraft, train or truck; cargo.
2. The commercial transport of goods, or the charge for it.
3. A burden or load.

Verb

1. To load with goods for transport.
2. (chiefly US) To carry or send as cargo.

Word family

• freightless
• airfreight
• overfreight
• freightage
• freighter
• dead freight
• freight car
• freight train

Related words

• fraught
• owe
• own

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins