froid

French

Etymology

From Old French froit, freid, inherited from Latin frīgidus (“cold”) (through a syncopated Vulgar Latin or Late Latin form frigdus, fricdus, attested in the Appendix Probi, or fridus, on a Pompeian inscription). Doublet of frigide, a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁwa/, /fʁwɑ/

• audio:

  (file)

Adjective

froid (feminine froide, masculine plural froids, feminine plural froides)

1. cold (temperature)

Synonyms

• (Acadian, Louisiana, Cajun French, Quebec) frette

Antonyms

• chaud (“warm, hot”)

Noun

froid m (uncountable)

1. (pathology) cold, chill
2. (of a relationship) distance, strain

Derived terms

• avoir froid (“to be cold (of a person)”)
• faire froid (“to be cold (of the weather)”)
• froidir (“to cool”)

• froideur
• froidure
• chat échaudé craint l’eau froide (“once bitten, twice shy”)

Descendants

• Mauritian Creole: frwa

Related terms

• frigide
• frileux

Further reading

• “froid”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.