Meaning

noun agitation resulting from active worry

noun a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion

noun an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief)

originFrom Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0