# fraught

> English word · Noun · IPA /fɹɔːt/ · frequency rank #24,758

## Definitions
1. The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.
2. Money paid to hire a vessel for this purpose; freight.
3. The transportation of goods, especially in a boat or ship.
4. A ship's cargo; freight, lading.
5. Two bucketfuls.
6. A burden, a load.

## Etymology
From Middle English fraught, fraght, freght (“transport of goods or people (usually by water); charge for such transport; facilities for such transport; cargo or passengers of a ship; ballast of a ship; goods in general; (figurative) burden; charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (“cargo, freight; charge for transport of goods”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz, from *fra- (intensifying prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“acquisition; possessions, property”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). Doublet of freight.
Cognates
* Danish fragt
* Old English ǣht (“livestock; property; possession; power”)
* Old High German frēht (“earnings”) (modern German fracht)
* Swedish frakt

## Easily confused with
- **fright** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraught-vs-fright)
- **freight** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraught-vs-freight)
- **fought** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fought-vs-fraught)

## Common misspellings (11)
`farught`, `ffraught`, `fraguht`, `fraugght`, `fraughht`, `fraughtt`, `fraugth`, `frauhgt`, `frraught`, `fruaght`, `rfaught`

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