Etymology

freeze

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Today it means: Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. Full definition →

Middle English fresen ← Old English frēosan ← Proto-West Germanic *freusan
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freeze · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*prews-
  2. Proto-Germanic*freusaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic*freusan
  4. Old Englishfrēosan
  5. Middle Englishfresen
  6. English todayfreeze

From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *freusan, from Proto-Germanic *freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́скать (prýskatʹ), пры́снуть (prýsnutʹ, “to spray, sprinkle”), Serbo-Croatian прскати, prskati (“to spray, sprinkle”), Sanskrit प्रुष्णोति (pruṣṇoti, “to moisten, shower, sprinkle, wet”), प्रुष्वा (pruṣvā, “hoarfrost, ice, rime”), Saraiki پسݨ (pussaṇ, “to become wet”).

freeze · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*prews-
  2. Proto-Germanic*freusaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic*freusan
  4. Old Englishfrēosan
  5. Middle Englishfresen
  6. Englishfreezedeverb.
  7. English todayfreeze

Deverbal from freeze (verb), see which for further etymology.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishfresen all →

Proto-Germanic*freusaną all →

Proto-Indo-European*prews- all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.