Etymology

antifreeze

A1N1T1I1F4R1E1E1Z10E1

Today it means: A substance, such as glycol, used to lower the freezing point of water. Full definition →

English freeze ← Middle English fresen ← Old English frēosan
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énti
  4. Ancient Greekᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)
  5. Ancient Greekἀντι- (anti-)
  6. Englishanti-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*prews-
  8. Proto-Germanic*freusaną
  9. Proto-West Germanic*freusan
  10. Old Englishfrēosan
  11. Middle Englishfresen
  12. Englishfreeze
  13. English todayantifreeze

From anti- + freeze.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.