afraid
/əˈfɹeɪd/adjective
afraid is spelled A-F-R-A-I-D. The wrong spelling people search most is affraid: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 21 of all searches for the word. Afraid is an adjective meaning “Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear”.
How many letters and syllables are in afraid?
| Letters | 6: A-F-R-A-I-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 50 times per million words; the 2,041st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, affraid, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell afraid?
Afraid is spelled A-F-R-A-I-D. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for afraid in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is afraid?
Afraid appears 50 times per million words in written English, the 2,041st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce afraid?
- /əˈfɹeɪd/
- /əˈfɹɛd/
Afraid has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-afraid.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of afraid
- more afraid comparative
- most afraid superlative
- 'fraid
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does afraid mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
He is afraid of death.
- 2
Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation.
I am afraid I cannot help you in this matter.
- 3
Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Afraid in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | effrayé |
| German | ängstlich , bedauern, leider |
| Portuguese | com medo , temer |
| Spanish | con miedo, con temor, con susto, asustado, que teme, que tiene miedo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does afraid come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).