# fret

> English word · Verb · IPA /fɹɛt/ · frequency rank #20,362

## Definitions
1. Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
2. To chafe or irritate; to worry.
3. To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
4. In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
5. To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
6. To mine by agitating or eating away at (ore in the bank of a river).
7. To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
8. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
9. To be anxious, to worry.
10. To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
11. To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.

## Etymology
From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)).
The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frictāre, frequentative of Latin fricāre, from fricō (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word.
Cognates
*Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”)
*Low German freten (“to eat up”)
*German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”)
*Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”)
*Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”)
*Danish fråse (“to gorge”)

## Easily confused with
- **fry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fry)
- **fro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fro)
- **FTE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fte)
- **fut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fut)
- **from** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-from)
- **fuel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fuel)
- **frog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-frog)
- **Frey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-frey)
- **front** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-front)
- **fruit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fruit)
- **fried** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fried)
- **frost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-frost)
- **fries** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fries)
- **Freud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-freud)
- **Fritz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fritz)
- **fryer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-fryer)
- **Freya** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-freya)
- **froth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-froth)
- **frets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-frets)
- **frith** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fret-vs-frith)

## Common misspellings (6)
`fert`, `ffret`, `frett`, `frret`, `frte`, `rfet`

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