Freke
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A brave man, a warrior, a man-at-arms. obsolete
"Þen found he no frekes to fraist on his strenght."
- 2 Obsolete form of freak. Scotland, alt-of, obsolete
- 3 A man; a human being; a person. obsolete
"þes fifti, alle ferliche freken."
- 4 A creature such as a giant, demon, angel. obsolete
"Bringing my love, for Time’s a freke of jealous strain; […]"
Example
More examples"Þen found he no frekes to fraist on his strenght."
Etymology
From Middle English freke (“a bold man, warrior, man, creature”), from Old English freca (“a bold man, warrior, hero”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *frekô (“an active or eagre man, warrior, wolf”), from *frekaz (“active, bold, desirous, greedy”), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (“to shrug, be quick, twitch, splash, blast”). Akin with Old Norse freki (“greedy or avaricious one, a wolf”), Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous, daring, courageous, bold”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.