affray
/əˈfɹeɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.24 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "That voice doth us affray."
- "A 22-year-old man was also arrested in connection with the incident for affray towards attending paramedics."
- "The patient, who had a full view of the skirmish, was so tickled at the affray, that he burst into a laughter, which broke the quinsey, and cured him."
- "The affray in the busy marketplace caused great terror and disorder."
- "full of ghastly fright and cold affray"
Etymology
From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre. The second part of this is in turn from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu (“peace”), Old English friþ (“peace, frith”), Old English frēod (“peace, friendship”), German Friede (“peace”). More at free, friend.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *preyH-, affraien, afrayer, effreer, *exfrido, *friþu