frighten

English

Alternative forms

• freighten (obsolete)

Etymology

From fright +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹaɪtn̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtən
• Hyphenation: frigh‧ten

Verb

frighten (third-person singular simple present frightens, present participle frightening, simple past and past participle frightened)

1. To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright

   Avery puts a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost to frighten Emily.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:frighten

Translations

to disturb with fear

• Arabic: خَشَّى m (ḵaššā), أَفْزَعَ (ʔafzaʕa)

  Moroccan Arabic: خلع (khle3)

• Bulgarian: плаша (bg) (plaša), изплашвам (bg) (izplašvam)
• Burmese: ခြောက် (my) (hkrauk)
• Catalan: espantar (ca), espaventar (ca), esporuguir (ca), esgarrifar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚇唬／吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 嚇／吓 (zh), 吓 (zh) (xià)

• Czech: vystrašit
• Danish: skræmme (da)
• Dutch: bang (nl) maken (nl), beangstigen (nl)
• Esperanto: timigi
• Finnish: pelottaa (fi), säikyttää (fi)
• French: effrayer (fr), redouter (fr), terrifier (fr)
• Friulian: spaurî
• Galician: espantar (gl), atemorizar (gl)
• Georgian: შეშინება (šešineba)
• German: Angst machen, erschrecken (de), schrecken (de), beängstigen (de), ängstigen (de)
• Greek: τρομάζω (el) (tromázo)

  Ancient: ἐκφοβέω (ekphobéō), φοβέω (phobéō), φοβερίζω (phoberízō), πτήσσω (ptḗssō)

• Irish: cuir eagla ar, scanraigh
• Italian: spaurire, spaventare (it)
• Japanese: 怖がらせる (こわがらせる, kowagaraseru)
• Latin: terreō
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: baidīt, biedēt, biedināt
• Malay: menakutkan
• Nahuatl: tetzauhqui
• Pashto: وېرول (werawël)
• Persian: ترساندن (fa) (tarsândan)
• Polish: przestraszyć (pl), nastraszyć
• Portuguese: intimidar (pt), amedrontar (pt), ameaçar (pt)
• Romanian: speria (ro), înspăimânta (ro)
• Russian: пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), испуга́ть (ru) pf (ispugátʹ), напуга́ть (ru) pf (napugátʹ)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tšachaś

• Spanish: atemorizar (es)
• Swahili: -ogofya (sw), -ogofisha
• Swedish: skrämma (sv)
• Telugu: భయపడు (te) (bhayapaḍu)
• Turkish: korkutmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: ляка́ти (ljakáty)
• Walloon: sbarer (wa), fé sogne (wa)
• Welsh: dychryn (cy)
• Westrobothnian:

Anagrams

• fringeth

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• friȝten, fyrten

Etymology

From Old English fyrhtan; equivalent to fright +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrixtən/, [ˈfriçtən]

Verb

frighten

1. To frighten, scare

Conjugation

Conjugation of frighten (weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) frighten, frighte
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	frighte	frighted
2nd-person singular	frightest	frightedest
3rd-person singular	frighteth	frighted
subjunctive singular	frighte
imperative singular		—
plural1	frighten, frighte	frighteden, frightede
imperative plural	frighteth, frighte	—
participles	frightynge, frightende	frighted, yfrighted

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

• English: (to) fright

References

• “frighten (v.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.