faze

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pent-“to go; to walk”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*funsijaną“to predispose, make favourable; to make ready”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*funsijan
4. Old English · inherited fromfēsan
5. Middle English · inherited fromfēsen“to chase, drive away; put to flight; discomfit, frighten, terrify”
6. English todayfaze

From English dialectal (Kentish) feeze, feese (“to alarm, discomfit, frighten”), from Middle English fēsen (“to chase, drive away; put to flight; discomfit, frighten, terrify”), from Old English fēsan, fȳsan (“to send forth; to hasten, impel, stimulate; to banish, drive away, put to flight; to prepare oneself”), from Proto-West Germanic *funsijan, from Proto-Germanic *funsijaną (“to predispose, make favourable; to make ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go; to walk”). The word is cognate with Old Saxon fūsian (“to strive”), Old Norse fýsa (“to drive, goad; to admonish”). Citations for faze in the Oxford English Dictionary start in 1830, and usage was established by 1890.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from mid 19th c. To frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt, put off (usually used in the negative); to disconcert, to perturb.