frighten

Etymology

It is formed from English fright + -en,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a late formation that took the place of the earlier verb fright.^[2][5][3] Fright is from Old English fyrhto, with a Northumbrian variant fryhto,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *furhtaz (“afraid”),^[3][7][8] the source also of 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (faurhts, “afraid”) and of forhta, now German Furcht (“fear”).^[2][7][3] The older verb fright comes from fyrhtan, and the OED notes that its causative sense "to terrify" is peculiar to English, the related verbs in the other Germanic languages meaning "to fear".^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To throw into a fright, to terrify: 1666, in Pepys's Diary (4 September).^[2] Merriam-Webster's first date is 1630,^[4] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1660s.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb took over the sense of the older fright, which became rare.^[2][5] From 1691 it was used with a word saying where the fear drives someone, to frighten someone into, out of or off something.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to terrify; to shock with dread".^[9] In English dialect it could also mean simply to take by surprise.^[4] Scots and northern dialects had forms such as frichten and freeten, and Wiltshire froughten.^[10]

Timeline

• 1666 – to terrify.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1630.^[4]
• 1691 – to drive into or out of something by fear.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make someone afraid; to scare or terrify: The thunder frightened the puppy.^[11][4][2]
2. To drive or force someone into, out of or away from something by fear: The dogs frightened the burglars off.^[11][4][2]
3. (intransitive) To become afraid: She doesn't frighten easily.^[4]

Word family

• frightener
• frighteningly
• frightenable
• overfrighten

Related words

• fright
• frightful

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins