Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “frigate” come from?

Frigate comes from French frégate, Italian fregata, and Latin aphractus, ultimately from Ancient Greek φράσσω meaning to fence or enclose.

frigate (English): An obsolete type of sailing warship with a single...

Definitions

  1. An obsolete type of sailing warship with a single...

Ancestry of “frigate”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchfrégatefrigate; frigatebird; first-person singular...
2Italianfregatarub, polish; rip-off; feminine singular of...
3LatinaphractusAn open boat
4Ancient Greekἄφρακτοςunfenced, unfortified, unguarded
5Ancient Greekφράκτης—
6Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
7Ancient Greekπεῖραtrial, experiment, attempt
8Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “frigate”

  • frigatebird
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →