freight
pronunciation
How to pronounce freight in British English:
UK [freɪt]
How to pronounce freight in American English:
US [freɪt]
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- Noun:
- goods carried by a large vehicle
- transporting goods commercially at rates cheaper than express rates
- the charge for transporting something by common carrier
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- Verb:
- transport commercially as cargo
- load with goods for transportation
Word Origin
- freight
- freight: see fraught
- freight (n.)
- early 15c. "transporting of goods and passengers by water," variant of fraght, which is from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (see fraught). Danish fragt, Swedish frakt apparently also are from Dutch or Frisian. Also from Low German are Portuguese frete, Spanish flete, and French fret, which might have changed the vowel in this variant of the English word. Meaning "cargo of a ship" is from c. 1500. Freight-train is from 1841.
- freight (v.)
- "to load (a ship) with goods or merchandise for shipment," mid-15c. variant of Middle English fraught (v.) "to load (a ship)," c. 1400; see fraught, and compare freight (n.). Figuratively, "to carry or transport," 1530s. Related: Freighted; freighting.
Example
- 1. Deutsche bahn is already europe 's largest operator in freight .
- 2. Freight companies worry that new passenger services will simply increase congestion .
- 3. This month , an air freight service to antwerp was inaugurated .
- 4. The freight railroads have learned to live with the limited amtrak passenger services on their tracks .
- 5. The first result was a sharp rise in traffic and productivity and fall in freight costs .