affray

/əˈfɹeɪ/

//əˈfɹeɪ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"affray" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“affray” is uncommon English (frequency #71,263 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,263
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To startle from quiet; to alarm.

Corpus desk

Index EN-affray · affray · English

affray · rank #71,263 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,263
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH AFAIK

Nearest frequency peer: AFAIK (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “affray”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “affray” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for affray
PropertyValue
Headwordaffray
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/əˈfɹeɪ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#71,263
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “affray” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).affrayfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “AFAIK” (#71,262), “agonies” (#71,265), “agronomist” (#71,266). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “affray” is #71,263. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

affray is uncommon English at frequency #71,263 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /əˈfɹeɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

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

  1. 1
    To startle from quiet; to alarm.
  2. 2
    To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how affray appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. That voice doth us affray.

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

How do you spell "affray"?
"affray" is spelled A-F-F-R-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈfɹeɪ/.
What does "affray" mean?
As a verb, "affray" means: To startle from quiet; to alarm.
How do you pronounce "affray"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "affray" is /əˈfɹeɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "affray"?
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 *... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "affray", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

zoster#71,246Zhukov#71,243armbar#71,287yeomen#71,236

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list