frisk

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frisk^¹

/fɹɪsk/

Rhymes with -ɪsk

Where it comes from

From Middle English frisk (“lively, frisky”), from Middle French frisque (“lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay”), of Germanic origin, perhaps from Middle Dutch frisc (“fresh”) or Old High German frisc (“fresh”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”). Cognate with Icelandic frískur (“frisky, fresh”). Doublet of fresco and fresh. More at fresh.

Alternative etymology derives frisk from an alteration (due to Old French fresche (“fresh”)) of Old French fricque, frique (“smart, strong, playful, bright”), from Gothic *𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*friks, “greedy, hungry”), from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (“greedy, active”), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (“greedy, fierce”). Cognate with Middle Dutch vrec (“greedy, avaricious”), German frech (“insolent”), Old English frec (“greedy, eager, bold, daring, dangerous”). More at freak.

adjective

archaic Lively; brisk. Her hands must hide her mouth if she but smile; Fain would she seem all frisk and frolic still
Similar: frolicsome, frisky

noun frisks

A little playful skip or leap; a brisk and lively movement.
Similar: gambol, frolic
The act of frisking, of searching for something by feeling someone's body. The customs officer gave me a frisk after I went through the metal detector.
Similar: frisking, patdown

verb frisks · frisking · frisked

intransitive To frolic, gambol, skip, dance, leap.
transitive To search (someone) by feeling their body and clothing. The police frisked the suspiciously-acting individual and found a knife as well as a bag of marijuana.
transitive To search (a place). Furniture was tipped over and drawers pulled out. Someone had obviously frisked the joint before we arrived.

Similar: pat down

Frisk^²

proper noun Frisks

A surname.

Thesaurus

verb

Similar: pat down

Translations

Every language

adj lively; brisk; frolicsome

Español	vivaracho
Русский	ре́звый rézvyj, игри́вый igrívyj

verb to frolic

Español	juguetear
Deutsch	scherzen
Русский	резви́ться rezvítʹsja

verb to search somebody by feeling their clothes

Español	cachear, palpar
Português	revistar, apalpar
Français	fouiller
Deutsch	filzen
Ελληνικά	κάνω σωματική έρευνα káno somatikí érevna
Русский	обы́скивать ощу́пыванием obýskivatʹ oščúpyvanijem
עברית	ביצע חיפוש גופני bitséa khipús gufaní

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MLA

"frisk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/frisk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

frisk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/frisk

Chicago

"frisk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/frisk.

BibTeX

@misc{frisk_2026,
  title = {frisk},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/frisk},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}