frost

B1 Topic:Cooking & Baking

US /fɹɔst/ UK /fɹɒst/ See IPA manual

Freq #6797

Meanings

1

noun
A thin layer of tiny ice crystals that forms on cold surfaces.

There was frost on the car windows this morning.
2

noun
Very cold weather that freezes water outdoors.

The frost killed many of the young plants in the garden.
3

verb
To become covered with frost.

The windows frosted over during the freezing night.
4

verb
To cover a cake with frosting.

She frosted the cake with chocolate icing.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

4 verb · to cover a cake with frosting. ice

Word family

Forms frostingfrostlikefrosts

Derived forms antifrostbefrostdefrostduck-frostfrost-bearerfrost-blitefrost-nailfrost-stachefrost-tenderfrost-workedfrostbirdfrostbite

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

frost heave
the lifting of soil or pavement as water in the ground freezes

Noun + noun

Tongue twisters (1)

See all

Simplified etymology

Frost is an Old English word recorded from the 8th century and is closely related to freeze.

Etymology

From Middle English frost, from an unmetathesized variant of Old English forst (“frost”), from Proto-Germanic *frustaz (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Froast, Fröäst (“frost”), West Frisian froast (“frost”), Cimbrian bròst, vrost, vròst (“frost”), Dutch vorst (“frost”), German Frost (“frost”), Luxembourgish Frascht (“frost”), Vilamovian fröst (“frost”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish frost (“frost”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, frost, rime, snow”). Related to freeze.

frost Middle English forst Old English *frustaz Proto-Germanic *prews- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cooking & Baking Gardening & Horticulture Weather & Climate

External links

# frost

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /fɹɔst/
**IPA (UK):** /fɹɒst/
**Frequency rank:** 6797

## Meanings
1. A thin layer of tiny ice crystals that forms on cold surfaces.
2. Very cold weather that freezes water outdoors.
3. To become covered with frost.
4. To cover a cake with frosting.

## Examples
- There was frost on the car windows this morning.
- The frost killed many of the young plants in the garden.
- The windows frosted over during the freezing night.
- She frosted the cake with chocolate icing.

## Derived Forms
- antifrost
- befrost
- defrost
- duck-frost
- frost-bearer
- frost-blite
- frost-nail
- frost-stache
- frost-tender
- frost-worked
- frostbird
- frostbite

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: frost
- Root: forst
- Root: *frustaz
- Root: *prews-

## Etymology
From Middle English frost, from an unmetathesized variant of Old English forst (“frost”), from Proto-Germanic *frustaz (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Froast, Fröäst (“frost”), West Frisian froast (“frost”), Cimbrian bròst, vrost, vròst (“frost”), Dutch vorst (“frost”), German Frost (“frost”), Luxembourgish Frascht (“frost”), Vilamovian fröst (“frost”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish frost (“frost”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, frost, rime, snow”). Related to freeze.

## AI Etymology
Frost comes from Middle English frost, from an unmetathesized variant of Old English forst (“frost”), from Proto-Germanic *frustaz (“frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Froast, Fröäst (“frost”), West Frisian froast (“frost”), Cimbrian bròst, vrost, vròst (“frost”), Dutch vorst (“frost”), German Frost (“frost”), Luxembourgish Frascht (“frost”), Vilamovian fröst (“frost”), Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish frost (“frost”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, frost, rime, snow”). Related to freeze. In current use, the main senses are “A thin layer of tiny ice crystals that forms on cold surfaces” and “Very cold weather that freezes water outdoors”.

## Topics
- Cooking & Baking
- Gardening & Horticulture
- Weather & Climate

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