"F" Word Origins

foxglove

Origin

From Middle English fox-glove, foxes glove, from Old English foxes glōfa (“foxglove”). By surface analysis, fox + glove.

foxhole

Old English

From Old English foxhol, literally "fox" plus "hole."

foxship

Origin

From fox + -ship.

foxtrot

Origin

Likely a blend of fox and trot, possibly named after early performer Harry Fox.

foxy

Origin

From fox plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

foy

Middle French

From Middle French foy, a doublet of the word "faith."

foyer

Latin

From French foyer, "hearth" or "home," ultimately from Latin focus, "hearth."

Foyle

Irish

From Irish Feabhal.

FP

English

An initialism, expanding differently by field — false positive, family planning or freezing point.

fr

English

An abbreviation of the phrase for real, spread through texting and social media.

fra

Italian

From Italian frate ("brother, friar"), the same root that gives English "friar."

frabjous

Origin

Originally a nonce word in Lewis Carroll's poem “Jabberwocky” (see the quotation); probably a blend of fair + fabulous + joyous.

fracas

French

From French fracas, from Italian fracassare ("to shatter, smash to pieces").

Frack

Origin

Shortened from "fracture."

fracking

Origin

From frack + -ing.

fractal

Latin

Coined from Latin fractus ("broken"), the past participle of frangere ("to break").

fraction

Latin

From Latin fractio ("a breaking"), from frangere ("to break") — the same root as fracture and fragment.

fractious

Origin

From fraction (“discord”) (now obsolete) + -ous.

fracture

Latin

From Latin frāctūra ("a break"), from frangere ("to break") — related to fraction and fragment.

frag

Origin

Clipped from "fragmentation grenade."

fragile

Latin

From Latin fragilis, from frangere ("to break") — a doublet of "frail."

fragility

Latin

From Latin fragilitās, a doublet of "frailty."

fragment

Latin

From Latin fragmentum ("a piece broken off"), from frangere ("to break").

fragmentize

Origin

From fragment + -ize.

fragrance

Latin

From French fragrance, from Latin frāgrantia — related to fragrant.

fragrant

Latin

From Latin frāgrāns, present participle of frāgrāre ("to smell sweetly").

frail

Latin

From Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis ("breakable") — a doublet of "fragile."

frailness

Origin

From frail + -ness. Piecewise doublet of fragileness.

frailsome

Origin

From frail + -some.

frailty

Latin

From Old French fraileté, from Latin fragilitās — a doublet of "fragility."

frain

Origin

From Old French fraisne.

fraise

Origin

From Middle English fraisen, from Old English frāsian (“to ask, try, tempt”), from Proto-Germanic *fraisōną (“to attempt, try”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try; risk, peril”). Cognate with West Frisian freezje (“to fear”), Dutch vrezen (“to fear, dread, be afraid”), German freisen (“to put at risk, endanger, terrify”). Alternatively the Middle English fraisen was borrowed from Middle Dutch vreisen, vresen (“to be afraid; to endanger, threaten, frighten”), from Old Dutch *freisōn, *frēsōn, from the same Proto-West Germanic source above.

frak

Origin

Invented for the TV series Battlestar Galactica as a family-friendly substitute for a real profanity, later spelled "frak" (originally "frack") specifically so it would keep the same four-letter shape as the word it replaces.

frame

Old English

From Old English framian ("to profit, advance"), related to the word "from"; the "structure" sense developed via the idea of building or fitting things together.

framework

Origin

From frame + work.

frammis

Origin

Unknown. Originated in the US in the 1930s; perhaps merely a nonsense word.

Frampton

Origin

From the name of the River Frome + Old English tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

Fran

Origin

A shortened nickname form of Frances/Francis.

franc

French

From French franc, related to "frank" and "Frank" (the Germanic people) — a doublet of both.

Franca

Portuguese

Borrowed from Catalan, Italian and Spanish Franca or, alternatively, from Portuguese França.

france

Origin

From Middle English France, from Old French France, from Latin Francia, from Francī, the name of a Germanic tribe, of unclear (but Proto-Germanic) origin. Believed to be most likely from Frankish *Frankō (“a Frank”), from Proto-Germanic *frankô (“javelin”). Compare Frank. Displaced native Old English Francland (see modern Frankland).

Frances

Old French

From Old French Franceise, feminine form of Franceis, from Late Latin Franciscus (“Frankish”). Doublet of Francisca.

Francesca

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Francesca (“Frances”), the feminine form of Francesco (“Francis”), from Late Latin Franciscus, from Francia (“France”) + -iscus (“-ish”). Doublet of Frances.

Francesco

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Francesco.

franchise

Old French

From Old French franchise ("freedom"), from franc ("free") — related to "frank."

Francie

Origin

Diminutives + -ie.

Francine

French

Borrowed from French Francine.

Francis

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin Franciscus ("French, Frankish"), from Francia ("France").