Etymograph

English

feeze

Feeze comes from Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to pass’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pent-1‘to pass’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fese1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1577feeze1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English feeze
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphael Holinshed, Scotlande: “[…]though you haue fetched your feaze, yet to looke…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pent-Wiktionary, English feeze‘to pass’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feseWiktionary, English feeze
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1577feezeWiktionary, English feeze. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphael Holinshed, Scotlande: “[…]though you haue fetched your feaze, yet to looke…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to pass’

find, path, patrol, pad, pontiff, sputnik, pontoon, pontifical, pons, faze, pontifex, 13 more

Another origin of feeze

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pent-‘to send forth, drive away, banish, rush, strive’disputed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*funsijaną‘to make favourable, make ready’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*funsijan‘to make ready to go’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fȳsan‘to hasten, rush’uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēsian‘to drive away, put to flight’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fesenuncertain
  7. Englishtodayfeeze

From Middle English fesen, from Old English fēsian, fȳsian (‘to drive away, put to flight’), variants of fēsan, fȳsan (‘to hasten, rush; to incite, stimulate, send forth, drive away’), of disputed origin.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.

Another origin of feeze

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₁y-‘to twine, wind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wéh₁itis‘that which twines or bends’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wītisreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvītis‘vine’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vis‘vise, vice’
  6. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500vise‘screw, windlass, winch’
  7. Dutchc. 1500–presentvijs‘screw’
  8. Scotsc. 1450–presentfize‘screw’
  9. Scotsc. 1450–presentfeeze
  10. Englishtodayfeeze

Today it means

noun A state of worry or alarm.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feeze”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pent- / feeze

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