affray
/əˈfɹeɪ/
"affray" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“affray” is an uncommon English word, ranked #71,263 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #71,263
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To startle from quiet; to alarm.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | affray |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈfɹeɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,263 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “affray” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for affray is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈfɹeɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #71,263 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for affray in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre.… The correct English form is affray, spelled A-F-F-R-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To startle from quiet; to alarm.
- 2To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
Etymology
From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre. The second part of this is in turn from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu (“peace”), Old English friþ (“peace, frith”), Old English frēod (“peace, friendship”), German Friede (“peace”). More at free, friend.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “affray”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-F-F-R-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈfɹeɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.