# faze

> English word · Verb · IPA /feɪz/ · frequency rank #32,393

## Definitions
1. To frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt, put off (usually used in the negative); to disconcert, to perturb.

## Etymology
From English dialectal (Kentish) feeze, feese (“to alarm, discomfit, frighten”), from Middle English fēsen (“to chase, drive away; put to flight; discomfit, frighten, terrify”), from Old English fēsan, fȳsan (“to send forth; to hasten, impel, stimulate; to banish, drive away, put to flight; to prepare oneself”), from Proto-West Germanic *funsijan, from Proto-Germanic *funsijaną (“to predispose, make favourable; to make ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go; to walk”). The word is cognate with Old Saxon fūsian (“to strive”), Old Norse fýsa (“to drive, goad; to admonish”).
Citations for faze in the Oxford English Dictionary start in 1830, and usage was established by 1890.

## Easily confused with
- **Fe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fe)
- **fee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fee)
- **foe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-foe)
- **fez** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fez)
- **FTE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fte)
- **fie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fie)
- **free** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-free)
- **five** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-five)
- **fire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fire)
- **fine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fine)
- **file** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-file)
- **flee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-flee)
- **fuse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fuse)
- **fife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fife)
- **FIDE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fide)
- **fuzz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fuzz)
- **fizz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fizz)
- **flue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-flue)
- **FTSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-ftse)
- **fete** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faze-vs-fete)

## Common misspellings (5)
`afze`, `faez`, `fazze`, `ffaze`, `fzae`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/faze