From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegia…

*preyH- Proto-Indo-European free Middle English frēo Old English *frī Proto-West Germanic *frijaz Proto-Germanic *priHós Proto-Indo-European

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# free

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj, verb
**IPA (US):** /fɹi/
**IPA (UK):** /fɹiː/
**Frequency rank:** 496

## Meanings
1. Costing no money.
2. Able to do what you want, without being controlled or restricted.
3. Not being used or occupied; available.
4. To set someone or something free; to release.

## Examples
- The museum offers free entry on Sundays.
- He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
- Is this seat free?
- The prisoners were finally freed after ten years.

## Synonyms
- befree
- emancipate
- liberate
- manumit
- release
- unchain
- unfetter
- unshackle

## Antonyms
- unfree

## Derived Forms
- befree
- free-bleeding
- free-blown
- free-boob
- free-climb
- free-climbing
- free-cooling
- free-diver
- free-diving
- free-fall
- free-feed
- free-fire

## Related Forms
- friend

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *preyH-
- Root: free
- Root: frēo
- Root: *frī
- Root: *frijaz
- Root: *priHós

## Etymology
From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegia…

## AI Etymology
Free comes from Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend. In current use, the main senses are “Costing no money” and “Able to do what you want, without being controlled or restricted”.

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