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frieze

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Etymology and origin of the English word frieze

Pronunciation

frieze1 coarse woollen cloth

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1391 accounts of the Earl of Derby's expedition
Borrowed from
Old French frise via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Middle Dutch friese

Etymology

The word for the cloth is inherited from Middle English frise, also frēse,[2][3] borrowed from Old French frise, recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1397.[2][4][5][6] Its further origin is disputed: Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Middle English Dictionary trace it to Middle Dutch friese or vriese, a cloth with a curled nap,[7][2] and Etymonline takes it as probably from a German or Dutch word meaning "to curl", related to frizzle.[4] The OED derives the French noun from French friser (“to curl”), the source of frizz,[6] and Klein agrees.[8] The American Heritage Dictionary, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead derive it from Medieval Latin frīsia (“Frisian (wool)”), from Latin Frīsius (“Frisian”).[9][10][11][12] Johnson and Weekley likewise connected it with cloth from Friesland, “drap de Frise” in French,[13][14] and Weekley thought the French verbs for curling might have come from the curly nap of the cloth, though the dates are a difficulty.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A coarse woollen cloth with a nap on one side: 1391, in the accounts of the Earl of Derby's expedition,[2][14] and in English in a will of 1418.[6] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Frieze was originally made in Wales and is now made especially in Ireland, where it was used for overcoats.[12][6][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as a coarse warm cloth, made perhaps first in Friesland, and quoted Milton.[13] From 1509 a verb frieze meant to raise a nap on cloth, a sense now historical.[6][7][12] The noun was also used for the nap or down of a plant from 1640 to 1688,[6] and since 1885 it has been used in leather-making for a bruise or abrasion in the grain.[6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives it for a wiry upholstery fabric with cut and uncut loops.[7]

Timeline

  • 1391 – coarse woollen cloth with a nap, in the Earl of Derby's accounts.[2] The OED's first English quotation is from 1418.[6]
  • 1509 – verb, to raise a nap on cloth.[6]
  • 1640 – the nap or down of a plant (obsolete by 1688).[6]
  • 1885 – in leather-making, a bruise or abrasion of the grain.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A heavy, coarse woollen fabric with a rough nap, usually on one side only, made especially in Ireland for overcoats: an old coat of grey frieze.[7][6][12]
  2. An upholstery fabric with a pattern of cut and uncut loops.[7]
  3. In leather-making, a flaw caused by bruising or abrasion of the grain.[6]

Verb

  1. (historical) To raise a nap on cloth.[7][6][12]

Word family

  • friezer

frieze2 architectural band

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1563 J. Shute, First Groundes of Architecture
Borrowed from
Middle French frise
Ultimate origin
Latin Phrygius

Etymology

The word for the architectural band is borrowed from Middle French frise,[15][4][7][6][10][12] originally a ruff, according to Barnhart and Etymonline,[15][4] probably from Medieval Latin frisium (“embroidered border, embroidery”), a variant of frigium and phrygium,[15][4][7][10][8] from Latin Phrygium (“Phrygian work”), the neuter of Phrygius (“Phrygian”), from Phrygia, a country of Asia Minor known for its embroidery.[7][15][4][16] Latin also had the phrase “Phrygiae vestes”, ornate or embroidered garments.[6][15][8] The OED holds that the French word, with Spanish friso, is probably related in some way to Italian fregio (“border, fringe, ornament”),[6][8] while Weekley thought the origin doubtful and the Phrygian etymology an unlikely guess.[14] Merriam-Webster Unabridged explains the name by the fancy decoration of some friezes, which recalls embroidery.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The member of a classical entablature between the architrave and the cornice: 1563, in J. Shute's First Groundes of Architecture.[6][15][7]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, the word had already moved from embroidered cloth through "fringe" to a decorative band along the top of a wall before English took it from French,[16] and Etymonline notes that the wall-band sense existed in Old French.[4] In 1569, in Spenser, it was used of the neck of a column's capital,[6][12] and since 1692 of a ring on a cannon behind the cornice ring.[6] The general sense, any band of painted or sculpted decoration, is first recorded in Disraeli's Tancred (1847),[6][15] and the word now also describes any band or line of things that suggests one.[7][17] A verb frieze, from French friser, meant to embroider with gold from 1587 and to decorate silver plate with chased patterns from 1678;[6][12] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also has a verb meaning to adorn with a frieze.[7]

Timeline

  • 1563 – the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice.[6][15][7]
  • 1569 – the neck of a column's capital.[6][12]
  • 1587 – verb, to embroider with gold.[6][12]
  • 1678 – verb, to decorate silver plate with chased patterns.[6][12]
  • 1692 – a ring on a cannon behind the cornice ring.[6]
  • 1847 – any band of painted or sculpted decoration.[6][15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In architecture, the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice, often decorated with sculpture.[7][17][6]
  2. A decorated band along the upper part of the wall of a room, below the cornice.[17]
  3. Any ornamental band, painted or sculpted, on a building or a piece of furniture: A frieze of dancing figures ran round the hall.[7][17][6]
  4. A line or series of things that suggests such a band.[7]

Verb

  1. To decorate with a frieze.[7]
  2. (rare) To embroider with gold.[6][12]

Word family

  • friezelike
  • frizz
  • frizzle
  • Phrygian

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  16. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Frieze.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/frieze. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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