afraid

adj
/əˈfɹeɪd/

Etymology

From Middle English affrayed, affraied, past participle of afraien (“to affray”), from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”), from Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”), from es- (“out”) + freer (“to secure, secure the peace”), from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from Proto-Germanic *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). By surface analysis, affray + -ed. Compare also afeard. More at free, friend.

  1. derived from *prāy-
  2. derived from *frijōną — “to free; to love
  3. derived from *friþuz — “peace
  4. derived from *friþu — “security, peace
  5. derived from effreer
  6. derived from afrayer — “to terrify, disquiet, disturb
  7. inherited from affrayed

Definitions

  1. Impressed with fear or apprehension

    Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.

    • He is afraid of death.
    • He is afraid to ask her out.
    • He is afraid of the future.
  2. Regretful, sorry

    Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation.

    • I am afraid I cannot help you in this matter.
  3. Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something).

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at afraid. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01afraid02reluctance03hesitancy04uncertainty05conviction06firmly07securely08fear

A definitional loop anchored at afraid. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at afraid

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA