afraid

A1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

Also spelled fraid

US /əˈfɹeɪd/ UK /əˈfɹeɪd/ See IPA manual

Freq #416

Meanings

1

adj
Feeling fear; frightened of someone or something.

He is afraid of the dark.
2

adj
Used politely to say you are sorry about something unpleasant.

I'm afraid I can't help you with this.
3

adj
Worried that something bad might happen.

She was afraid that she might fail the exam.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · feeling fear; frightened of... frightened scared fearful anxious

2 adj · used politely to say you... sorry

3 adj · worried that something bad... worried anxious apprehensive

More afeared alarmed chicken concerned frit horrified mortified panicked

Opposites

brave calm unafraid

Word family

Derived forms afraidlyafraidnessfraidyunafraidunafraidly

Related forms afearafeared affray coward fear fray frighten

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Afraid dates from Middle English and comes from Old Norman French afrayer, which also gave English affray.

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.

*preyH- Proto-Indo-European affrayed Middle English afrayer xno effreer Old French *friþu frk *friþuz Proto-Germanic *frijōną Proto-Germanic *prāy- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# afraid

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /əˈfɹeɪd/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈfɹeɪd/
**Frequency rank:** 416

## Meanings
1. Feeling fear; frightened of someone or something.
2. Used politely to say you are sorry about something unpleasant.
3. Worried that something bad might happen.

## Examples
- He is afraid of the dark.
- I'm afraid I can't help you with this.
- She was afraid that she might fail the exam.

## Synonyms
- afeared
- alarmed
- anxious
- apprehensive
- chicken
- concerned
- fearful
- frightened
- frit
- horrified
- mortified
- panicked

## Antonyms
- brave
- calm
- unafraid

## Derived Forms
- afraidly
- afraidness
- fraidy
- unafraid
- unafraidly

## Related Forms
- afear
- afeared
- affray
- coward
- fear
- fray
- frighten

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *preyH-
- Root: affrayed
- Root: afrayer
- Root: effreer
- Root: *friþu
- Root: *friþuz
- Root: *frijōną
- Root: *prāy-

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Afraid comes 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”) plus 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 plus -ed. Compare afeard. Compare free, friend.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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