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freight

(frāt)

1. Goods carried by a vessel or vehicle, especially by a commercial carrier; cargo.

2. A burden; a load.

a. Commercial transportation of goods.

b. The charge for transporting goods. Also called freightage.

4. A railway train carrying goods only.

tr.v. freight·ed, freight·ing, freights

1. To convey commercially as cargo.

2. To load with goods to be transported.

3. To imbue with a specified element or elements: freighted her words with innuendo.

[Middle English fraught, freight, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht; see aik- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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