refret

R1E1F4R1E1T1

verb

To replace the frets on (a musical instrument).

“Can you refret my guitar?”

OriginMiddle English refreit ← Anglo-Norman refreit ← Old French refreit →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

refret1

verbrefret (third-person singular simple present refrets, present participle refretting, simple past and past participle refretted)

present singular third person refrets · participle present refretting · participle past refretted · past refretted

  1. transitiveTo replace the frets on (a musical instrument).

    Can you refret my guitar?

refret2

nounrefret (plural refrets)

plural refrets · alternative refrette · alternative refreite · alternative refrayt · alternative refraid · alternative refrayde · alternative refreyd

  1. obsoleteA refrain.

    The refret or burden of the song in ver. 6, 8, 9, 10, “Yet have ye not returned to me,”[…] alludes to Deut. iv. 29(30),

    1847, E.W. Hengstenberg, translated by J.E. Ryland, Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch, volume 1, page 143
    1 more example

    Our old English term refrette, ‘the foote of the dittie, a verse often interlaced, or the burden of a song,’ was probably from refrain; or from refresteler, to pipe over again. […] ‘Refrain, the refret, burthen, or downe of a ballad.’ All this discussion is rendered necessary, because Steevens unfortunately forgot to note from whence he made the following extract,

    1820, Samuel Weller Singer, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Prince of Denmark, page 136

Origin

refret · verb

From re- + fret.

Full word history & related roots →

refret · noun

  1. Old Frenchrefreit“refrain”
  2. Anglo-Normanrefreit“response”
  3. Middle Englishrefreit
  4. Englishrefret

From Middle English refreit, from Anglo-Norman refreit (“response”), refraindre (“to sing a refrain”); also Old French refreit (“refrain”). The Oxford English Dictionary suggests influence from an unattested Late Latin form, refrangere; compare Latin refractus (past participle). See refrain (noun), refract.

More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

ferret
Cite this entry
APA

refret. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refret

MLA

“refret.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refret. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “refret,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refret.

Source: refret on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.