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frette

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Etymology and origin of the French word frette

frette1 iron hoop, fret

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1180
Borrowed from
Frankish *fetur
Ultimate origin
Frankish *fetur

Pronunciation

Forms

frette f (plural frettes)[1] Old French frete and fraite; the spelling frette dates from Furetière (1690).[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the iron hoop is probably borrowed from Frankish *fetur (“chain”),[5][3][6][4][7] a form Bloch and Wartburg infer from Old English feter and Old High German fezzara.[8] Etymonline connects the English fret with the same Frankish form.[9]

The TLFi instead takes it as probably a back-formation from French from the verb fretter (Old French freter “to strengthen with ferrules”, about 1200),[2] a verb of uncertain origin that it derives from Vulgar Latin *firmitō (“to strengthen”) through ferter, with metathesis;[2] Bloch and Wartburg mention this view too.[8] Diez, cited by Littré, saw in it a contraction of ferrette (“small piece of iron”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates frete to about 1180, for the iron ring fitted round the hub of a wheel.[3] The TLFi's first record is fraite in Partenopeus de Blois (before 1188), for a strap or cord wound round the legs to hold shoes or leggings, and it dates the wheel-hub sense to the first half of the 13th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed technical: a metal ring put round a piece to keep it from splitting.[5] In the 19th century it was used in artillery for the steel hoops shrunk onto the breech of a gun (1865),[2][4] and later for the reinforcement of concrete pipes and tanks.[3] The verb freter became fretter (1694), which gave frettage (1865).[5]

In music it is the small bar set across the neck of a guitar, viol or other stringed instrument.[6][1] Etymonline thinks the English fret of a guitar (about 1500) may come from Old French frete “ring, ferrule”.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1180 – Frete “ferrule of a wheel hub”.[3]
  • before 1188 – Fraite in Partenopeus de Blois.[2]
  • c. 1200 – The verb freter “to strengthen with ferrules”.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière spells it frette.[3][4][5]
  • 1694 – Fretter replaces freter.[5]
  • 1865 – Used in artillery.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A metal hoop or ring put round a piece, such as a wheel hub or a tool handle, to strengthen it or keep it from splitting.[6][2][3]
  2. (artillery) A steel hoop reinforcing the barrel of a gun.[4][10]
  3. (building) A circular or spiral metal reinforcement in concrete.[3]
  4. (music) A fret on the neck of a stringed instrument.[6][1]

Word family

  • fretter
  • frettage

frette2 interlaced ornament

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1352 accounts of the royal silverware
Ultimate origin
Latin frangō

Pronunciation

Forms

frette f (plural frettes)[1] Middle French frète, frete.[2][4]

Etymology

The word for the heraldic fret is from Old French frait (“broken”), the past participle of fraindre (“to break”), used as a feminine noun.[3][6][4][11] The TLFi gives this beside a back-formation from the verb fretter, which is found only as the past participle fretté; it traces the participle to Latin frāctus (“broken”).[2] The same verb gave freinte and fretin.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as frète in 1352, in the accounts of the French kings' silverware, as a term of heraldry.[2][3] A 14th-century inventory describes branches laciées par maniere de frete, “interlaced in the manner of a fret”.[10]

Semantic evolution

The heraldic charge of interlaced bendlets is the older sense;[12] Anglo-Norman used frette from 1372 for an ornament of jewels or flowers in an interlaced net,[12] and English took it over as fret in the late 14th century.[9] In architecture the word names an ornament of broken lines on a moulding, like the grecque, recorded in 1856;[2][6] the GLLF dates this sense to Larousse in 1872.[4]

Timeline

  • 1352 – Frète in heraldry.[2][3]
  • 1372 – Anglo-Norman frette, an interlaced ornament.[12]
  • late 14th century – English fret “interlaced pattern”.[9]
  • 1856 – Used in architecture.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (heraldry) A fret: a charge of interlaced bendlets set half in bend and half in bend sinister.[6][2]
  2. (architecture) An ornament on a moulding made of half-rounds forming regular broken lines, such as the Greek key or the meander.[6][2]

Word family

  • fretté

Usage notes

In Canadian French frette (also fret) is the spoken form of the adjective froid “cold”; it continues an old pronunciation of froid that survives in rural speech in France.[5][1][13] Féraud criticised this pronunciation as not Parisian at the end of the 18th century.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 121b
  8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 754b
  12. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  13. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Frette.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/frette. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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