English

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Etymology

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From Middle English freten, from Old English freten, ġefreten (eaten), past participle of Old English fretan (to devour, eat up, consume, break, eat into). More at fret.

Adjective

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fretten (comparative more fretten, superlative most fretten)

  1. (obsolete) Marked.
    pock-fretten (marked with the smallpox)

Verb

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fretten

  1. alternative past participle of fret

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Variant of vreten (to eat), possibly from cognate West Frisian frette or influenced by other cognate forms (compare German fressen, Westphalian Low German friätten, northern Low German frett, third-person singular of freten).

Noun

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fretten

  1. (transitive, informal) to eat
Conjugation
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Conjugation of fretten (weak)
infinitive fretten
past singular frette
past participle gefret
infinitive fretten
gerund fretten n
present tense past tense
1st person singular fret frette
2nd person sing. (jij) fret frette
2nd person sing. (u) fret frette
2nd person sing. (gij) fret frette
3rd person singular fret frette
plural fretten fretten
subjunctive sing.1 frette frette
subjunctive plur.1 fretten fretten
imperative sing. fret
imperative plur.1 fret
participles frettend gefret
1) Archaic.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

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fretten

  1. plural of fret

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German vret(t)en, vraten, from Old High German *fretten, fratōn (to chafe, rub), derived from frat (sore). Cognate with Luxembourgish frieden (to touch). Further origin unknown. The word cannot be immediately cognate with English fret, which instead corresponds to German fressen. Origin from a derivative of Latin fricāre (cf. Italian frettare) is also unlikely because of the underlying a-vocalism.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛtn̩

Verb

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fretten (weak, third-person singular present frettet, past tense frettete, past participle gefrettet, auxiliary haben)

  1. (Austria, Southern Germany, reflexive) to struggle with a very tedious task
  2. (obsolete) to chafe, make sore

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • fretten” in Duden online
  • fretten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle English

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Verb

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fretten

  1. Alternative form of freten (to bind)