Etymology

-free

Today it means: Free from; devoid of; without. Full definition →

Old English frēo ← Proto-West Germanic *friu ← Proto-Germanic *frijwaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*preyH-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*priHós
  3. Proto-Germanic*frijwaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*friu
  5. Old Englishfrēo
  6. English today-free

From Middle English -fre, -freo (as in scotfre, gauelfre, gafolfreo, etc.), from Old English -frēo ("free; free from"; as in scotfrēo, gafolfrēo), from Proto-West Germanic *-frī (“-free”). Compare Dutch -vrij (“-free”), German -frei (“-free”), Danish -fri (“-free”), Swedish -fri (“-free”), Norwegian -fri (“-free”). More at free.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.