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frayer

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Frayer

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French freier, from Latin fricāre.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /fʁɛ.je/ ~ /fʁe.je/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

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frayer

  1. (obsolete) to rub
  2. (zoology, intransitive) to spawn, to fertilize an egg
  3. (transitive) to open up, clear (a path, a way, etc.)
    se frayer un chemin à travers quelque choseto clear a path for oneself across to something
    • 2000, Jean-François Parot, L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux, JC Lattès, published 2012, page 32:
      Nicolas, accoutumé à l’ordre bonhomme des marchés provinciaux, dut se frayer un chemin au milieu d’un véritable chaos.
      Nicolas, used to the good-natured order of provincial markets, had to find his way through a veritable chaos.
  4. (intransitive) to mix, to associate [with avec ‘with’]
    frayer avec quelqu’unto associate with someone

Conjugation

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This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Derived terms

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Further reading

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