Frau

👩
Meaning

  1. (feminine) woman (adult female human)
  2. (feminine) wife (married woman, especially in relation to her spouse)
  3. (feminine) a title of courtesy, equivalent to Mrs/Ms, which has nearly replaced Fräulein in the function of Miss
  4. (feminine) madam (polite form of address for a woman or lady)
  5. (feminine) lady; noblewoman (woman of breeding or higher class)

Frequency

A1
Dialects

Zürich

Zürich

frau

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

frau

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

boone

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

hutte

Aargau

Aargau

tschättere

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

stigg

Lucerne

Lucerne

frau

Lucerne

Lucerne

frou

St. Gallen

St. Gallen

frou

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

schiff

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

bettfläsche

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Pronounced as (IPA)
/fʁaʊ̯/
Etymology

From Middle High German vrouwe, vrowe, from Old High German frouwa (“mistress”), from Proto-West Germanic *frauwjā, from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ, a feminine form of *frawjô (“lord”), giving Old English frēa (“lord, king; God, Christ; husband”), frēo (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *proHwo-, a derivation from *per- (“to go forward”). Cognate with Old Saxon frūa (hence Middle Low German vrouwe, Modern Low German frug), Old Norse freyja and frú (hence Icelandic frú and Norwegian frue). Further cognates include German Fron (“corvée, soccage”) and its kin. The Indo-European root is also the source of Proto-Slavic *pravъ (“right, straight, correct”), whence Old Church Slavonic правъ (pravŭ), Russian пра́вый (právyj, “right”), perhaps also Ancient Greek πρῶρα (prôra, “bow, prow”) and the first element of Latin provincia, if this is from Proto-Indo-European *prōwiōn.

Cognate with German
German
Fron

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