freak
UK /fɹiːk/ · US /fɹik/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms freaks freaking freaked freake freik freke frick
- noun (dated outside certain expressions) Someone or something that is markedly unusual or unpredictable. “The two-headed calf was a freak.”
- noun (slang, chiefly derogatory) A person who is extremely abnormal in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices; an oddball, a unique person, originally in a displeasing or alienating way.
- noun A hippie.
- noun A drug addict.
- noun (bodybuilding) A person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development; often a bodybuilder weighing more than 260 pounds (120 kg).
- noun An enthusiast, or person who has an obsession with, or extreme knowledge of, something. “Bob's a real video-game freak. He owns every games console of the last ten years.”
- noun (informal, sometimes endearing) A very sexually perverse individual. “She's a freak in the sheets!”
- noun (African-American Vernacular) A wild dance. “Get your freak on.”
- verb (intransitive, slang) To react extremely or irrationally, usually under distress or discomposure.
- verb (slang, ambitransitive) To be placed or place someone under the influence of a psychedelic drug, (especially) to experience reality withdrawal, or hallucinations (nightmarish), to behave irrational or unconventional due to drug use.
- adjective Strange, weird, unexpected. “a freak genius”
- noun (dated) A spot or streak of colour.
- noun A man, particularly a bold, strong, vigorous man.
- noun (UK dialectal, Scotland) A fellow; a petulant young man.
Synonyms
anomaly outlier aberrant abnormality deviance deviant farlie irregularity odd fish oddity peculiarity queerness rarity rum strange fish strangeness unusualness weirdness odd duck weirdo monster monstrosity lusus naturae addict nut junkie junky freak out gross out
Etymology
First attested in 1567. The sense "sudden change of mind, a whim" is of uncertain origin. Probably from a dialectal word related to Middle English frekynge (“capricious behavior; whims”) and Middle English friken, frikien (“to move briskly or nimbly”), from Old English frīcian (“to leap, dance”), or Middle English frek (“insolent, daring”), from Old English frec (“desirous, greedy, eager, bold, daring”), from Proto-West Germanic *frek, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (“hard, efficient, greedy, bold, audacious”) (in which case, it would be related to the noun under etymology 3). Compare Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous”).
For the meaning development compare Russian заско́к (zaskók) akin to ско́к (skók), скака́ть (skakátʹ).
The verb is a variant of freck. The noun is derived from the verb.
From Middle English freke, freike (“a bold man, warrior, man, creature”), from Old English freca (“a bold man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *frekô (“an active or eager man, warrior, wolf”), from *frekaz (“active, bold, desirous, greedy”), from Proto-Indo-European *pereg-, *spereg- (“to shrug, be quick, twitch, splash, blast”).
Cognate with Old Norse freki (“greedy or avaricious one, a wolf”), Old High German freh (“eager”), German frech, Old English frēcne (“dangerous, daring, courageous, bold”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To variegate; to checker; to streak. [R.]
- noun A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a whim of fancy; a capricious prank; a vagary or caprice.
Etymology [Akin to OE. frakin, freken, freckle, Icel. freknur, pl., Sw. fräkne, Dan. fregne, Gr. prsçni variegated. Cf. Freckle, Freck.]
Etymology [Prob. from OE. frek bold, AS. frec bold, greedly; akin to OHG. freh greedly, G. frech insolent, Icel. frekr greedly, Goth. faíhufriks avaricious.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “freak”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details