Etymograph

English

frisk

Frisk comes from Middle French frisque ‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’, from Middle Dutch frisc ‘fresh’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preyskos.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preyskos1‘fresh, unsalted’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*friskaz2‘fresh’uncertain
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500frisc2‘fresh’uncertain
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600frisque2‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frisk2‘lively, frisky’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1597frisk2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *friskaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English frisk
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1597, Joseph Hall, (please specify the page): “Her hands must hide her mouth if she but…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preyskosWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *friskaz‘fresh, unsalted’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*friskazWiktionary, English frisk‘fresh’uncertain
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500friscWiktionary, English frisk‘fresh’uncertain
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600frisqueWiktionary, English frisk‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500friskWiktionary, English frisk‘lively, frisky’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1597friskWiktionary, English frisk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1597, Joseph Hall, (please specify the page): “Her hands must hide her mouth if she but…”

The story

Alternative etymology derives frisk from an alteration (due to Old French fresche (‘fresh’)) of Old French fricque, frique (‘smart, strong, playful, bright’), from Gothic *𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*friks, “greedy, hungry”), from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (‘greedy, active’), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (‘greedy, fierce’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *friskaz ‘fresh’

fresh, fresco, 3 more

Today it means

adj Lively; brisk.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “frisk”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *friskaz. 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 *preyskos / frisk

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