Frizz

//fɹɪz// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mass of tightly curled or unruly hair. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the condition of being formed into small tight curls wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    Of hair, to form into a mass of tight curls. intransitive
  2. 2
    curl tightly wordnet
  3. 3
    To curl; to make frizzy. transitive

    "with her hair frized short up to her ears"

  4. 4
    To form into little burs, knobs, or tufts, as the nap of cloth.
  5. 5
    To make (leather) soft and of even thickness by rubbing, as with pumice stone or a blunt instrument.
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  1. 6
    To fry, cook, or sear with a sizzling noise; to sizzle.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bakebarbecuebasteblanchboilbraise

Example

More examples

"with her hair frized short up to her ears"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English frysen, from Old French friser, frizer (“to frizzle, crisp, curl, ruffle, braid, touch lightly, graze, scratch”), of Proto-Germanic origin, perhaps via Old Frankish *fris (“curl”), from Proto-Germanic *frisaz (“frizzy, curly”). Cognate with Old Frisian frisle, frēsle ("the hair of the head, lock of hair, curl, ringlet"; > North Frisian friessle, fressle (“hair, horse's tail”), West Frisian frisseljen (“braid of hair, braid”)), Old English frīs (“crisped, curled”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English fryse, from the verb. See above.

Related phrases

frizz up

More for "frizz"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.