Word for Wednesday: Freeze

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Over the past few mornings, most of us in the UK have been greeted by ice, snow and frost and some of the coldest conditions yet this winter.

With extreme temperatures outside it can be a real struggle to drag yourself out of bed! And then, thanks to the ice, getting to work or school can prove just as tricky.

As it happens, the word ‘freeze’ is quite an interesting one - if you look at our Spellzone dictionary entry, you’ll see there are 14 different contexts we can use the word in.

Interestingly, ‘to freeze’ actually shares some of its Proto-Indo-European origins with the word ‘to burn’. Etymonline.com references the word ‘preus’ which means both and the Latin ‘pruna’ meaning ‘live coal’ – sometimes we get the same burning sensation from the cold that we get from a flame or extreme heat!

That’s all for this week, but on a closing note, fear of the snow is known as ‘chionophobia’ and fear of the cold is ‘cryophobia’.

Hugh MacDermott


20 Jan 2015
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