fret

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• Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /fɹɛt/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Australian, New-Zealand: /fɹet/
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• Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Scotland, Wales: /fɾɛt/
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• homophone: threat (th-fronting)
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• rhymes with -ɛt
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• /fɹɛt/
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• CMU ARPABET: F R EH1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1ed- (“to eat”)). The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frictāre, frequentative of Latin fricāre, from fricō (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bhreyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word. Cognates *Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”) *Low German freten (“to eat up”) *German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”) *Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”) *Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”) *Danish fråse (“to gorge”)

From Middle English frēten (“to decorate”), from Old French freté, freter, fretter (“to fret (decorate with an interlacing pattern)”), from Old French fret (from fraindre (“to break”), from Latin frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Italic *frangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bhreg- (“to break”)) + Old French -er (suffix forming verbs) (from Latin -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h3enh2- (“to burden, charge”)).

From Middle English freten (“to bind”), from Old French freter, from frete (“ferrule, ring”) (modern French frette). The origin of the music senses are uncertain; they are possibly from frete or from fret (“to chafe, rub”).

From Latin fretum (“channel, strait”). Doublet of fretum.

From Old French frete, fraite, fraicte, possibly partly confused with fret (“channel, strait”).

Attested since the mid-1800s, of unknown origin. Perhaps related to fret (“to form a pattern upon”), fret (“to consume”) (as the fog does the land), or fret (“to agitate the surface of water”) (as the wind which blows the fog inland does); compare the semantics of haar (“cold wind; misty wind; fog, mist”). Dialectally, the spelling freet and pronunciation /fɹit/ are also found, as they also are for fret (“consume; agitate”).

172 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Catalan: freta — ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines
• Danish: fletværk — ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines
• Finnish: koristekuvio — ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines
• French: frette — ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines
• Spanish: entrelazado — ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines
• Albanian: tast — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Bulgarian: прагче (pragče) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Catalan: trast — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Chinese Mandarin: 品 (pǐn) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Czech: pražec — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Danish: bånd — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Dutch: fret — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Estonian: krihv — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Finnish: otenauha — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• French: frette — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• French: touchette — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• German: Bund — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• German: Bundstäbchen — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Greek: τάστο (tásto) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Hebrew: סָרִיג — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Hindi: परदा (pardā) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Hungarian: érintő — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Italian: tasto — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Japanese: フレット (furetto) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Kazakh: перне (perne) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Korean: 프렛 (peuret) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Māori: ripa — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Norwegian Bokmål: bånd — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Norwegian Bokmål: tverrbånd — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Norwegian Nynorsk: band — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Norwegian Nynorsk: tverrband — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Persian: دستان (dastān) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Polish: próg — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Portuguese: traste — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Russian: лад (lad) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Russian: поро́жек (poróžek) — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Scottish Gaelic: ceap — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Spanish: traste — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Swedish: band — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Swedish: greppband — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Swedish: tvärband — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Tagalog: bidya — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Turkish: perde — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Turkish: fret — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Vietnamese: phím — one of the pieces of metal, etc., across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument
• Dutch: verslinden — to consume, devour
• Dutch: vreten — to consume, devour
• French: dévorer — to consume, devour
• French: consumer — to consume, devour
• French: manger — to consume, devour
• German: verschlingen — to consume, devour
• German: essen — to consume, devour
• German: fressen — to consume, devour
• Italian: divorare — to consume, devour
• Italian: consumare — to consume, devour
• Middle English: freten — to consume, devour
• Middle English: devouren — to consume, devour
• Occitan: devorir — to consume, devour
• Occitan: manjar — to consume, devour
• Occitan: devorar — to consume, devour
• Polish: pożerać — to consume, devour
• Polish: pożreć — to consume, devour
• Russian: поглоща́ть (pogloščátʹ) — to consume, devour
• Russian: пожира́ть (požirátʹ) — to consume, devour
• Russian: жрать (žratʹ) — to consume, devour
• Sicilian: cunzumari — to consume, devour
• Sicilian: gnutticari — to consume, devour
• Sicilian: cafuḍḍari — to consume, devour
• Bulgarian: безпокоя (bezpokoja) — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Bulgarian: притеснявам (pritesnjavam) — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Dutch: piekeren — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Dutch: zorgen maken — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Dutch: verontrusten — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Finnish: hermoilla — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Finnish: olla huolissaan — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• French: inquiéter — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• French: tracasser — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• French: ronger — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: aufregen — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: ärgern — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: belästigen — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: beunruhigen — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: irritieren — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: stören — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: plagen — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: quälen — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• German: verärgern — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Greek: αδημονώ (adimonó) — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Hungarian: izgat — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Hungarian: nyugtalanít — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Ido: despitigar — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Italian: preoccupare — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Māori: whakakunāwheke — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Māori: whakakōingo — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Māori: koroingo — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Middle English: freten — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Polish: martwić się — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Polish: niepokoić się — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Russian: беспоко́ить (bespokóitʹ) — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Russian: волнова́ть (volnovátʹ) — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Sicilian: priuccupàrisi — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Sicilian: scantàrisi — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Spanish: preocuparse — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Spanish: comerse la cabeza — to chafe or irritate; to worry
• Bulgarian: гриза (griza) — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Dutch: knagen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Finnish: nakertaa — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Finnish: syövyttää — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Finnish: kuluttaa — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• French: consumer — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• French: ronger — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• French: manger — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: aufessen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: fressen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: auffressen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: nagen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: einnehmen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: anfressen — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Italian: consumare — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Middle English: freten — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Occitan: consumir — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Occitan: manjar — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Occitan: rosegar — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Occitan: roganhar — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Polish: wygryzać — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Polish: wyjadać — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Russian: поеда́ть (pojedátʹ) — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Russian: пожира́ть (požirátʹ) — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Sicilian: cunzumari — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• Spanish: consumir — to gnaw, consume, eat away
• German: schimpfen — to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry
• Māori: whakakūnawheke — to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry
• Bulgarian: безпокоя се (bezpokoja se) — to be anxious, to worry
• Bulgarian: притеснявам се (pritesnjavam se) — to be anxious, to worry
• Cornish: neghi — to be anxious, to worry
• Dutch: ongerust zijn — to be anxious, to worry
• Finnish: hermoilla — to be anxious, to worry
• Finnish: olla huolissaan — to be anxious, to worry
• French: s'inquiéter — to be anxious, to worry
• French: se tracasser — to be anxious, to worry
• German: sorgen — to be anxious, to worry
• German: besorgen — to be anxious, to worry
• German: beunruhigen — to be anxious, to worry
• German: nervös machen — to be anxious, to worry
• German: grämen — to be anxious, to worry
• Greek: αδημονώ (adimonó) — to be anxious, to worry
• Ido: despitar — to be anxious, to worry
• Italian: preoccuparsi — to be anxious, to worry
• Latin: aestuō — to be anxious, to worry
• Māori: whakawhererei — to be anxious, to worry
• Māori: kōingoingo — to be anxious, to worry
• Norwegian: fortvile — to be anxious, to worry
• Russian: беспоко́иться (bespokóitʹsja) — to be anxious, to worry
• Russian: волнова́ться (volnovátʹsja) — to be anxious, to worry
• Scots: frait — to be anxious, to worry
• Sicilian: scannalijàrisi — to be anxious, to worry
• Sicilian: scantàrisi — to be anxious, to worry
• Sicilian: priuccupàrisi — to be anxious, to worry
• Spanish: inquietarse — to be anxious, to worry
• Spanish: ansiarse — to be anxious, to worry
• Spanish: afanarse — to be anxious, to worry
• Spanish: desasosegarse — to be anxious, to worry
• Spanish: desosegarse — to be anxious, to worry
• Dutch: bewerken — to cut through with a fretsaw
• Dutch: doorzagen met een figuurzaag — to cut through with a fretsaw
• French: ajourer — to cut through with a fretsaw
• German: sägen — to cut through with a fretsaw
• German: aussägen — to cut through with a fretsaw
• German: heraussägen — to cut through with a fretsaw
• Italian: lavorare d'intaglio — to cut through with a fretsaw
• Russian: выпи́ливать (vypílivatʹ) — to cut through with a fretsaw
• Spanish: calar — to cut through with a fretsaw