Etymograph

English

frayed

Frayed comes from Old French froiier ‘to rub against, scrape’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰriH-o-s1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*frios1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfriō2‘to crumble, rub, or break into pieces’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfricō3as fricare‘to rub, rub down’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400froiier3‘to rub against, scrape’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006frayed3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin frio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin frico
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English frayed
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Koh Yu-hwan, Assessment of the Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks: “Although relations between the two adversaries were frayed on…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-Wiktionary, Latin frio‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰriH-o-sWiktionary, Latin frioreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*friosWiktionary, Latin frioreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfriōWiktionary, Latin frico‘to crumble, rub, or break into pieces’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfricōWiktionary, English frayedas fricare‘to rub, rub down’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400froiierWiktionary, English frayed‘to rub against, scrape’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2006frayedWiktionary, English frayed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Koh Yu-hwan, Assessment of the Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks: “Although relations between the two adversaries were frayed on…”

Formed from fray + -ed

Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’

Old French fraier

Middle English fraien ‘to beat so as to cause bruising, to bruise’

English fray

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’

frivolous, frivolity, briny, 5 more

through Latin friō ‘to crumble, rub, or break into pieces’

friable, 3 more

through Latin fricō ‘to rub, rub down’

friction, fricative, 3 more

Today it means

adj Unravelled; worn at the end or edge.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “frayed”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin frio, Latin frico. 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 *bʰreyH- / frayed

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