freight

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable, usually) The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
2. (uncountable, usually) Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage.
3. (countable, usually) Payment for transportation.
4. (countable, figuratively, usually) A burden, a load.
5. (figuratively, specifically, uncountable, usually) Cultural or emotional associations.
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, usually) Ellipsis of freight train.

Verb

1. (transitive) To load (a vehicle or vessel) with freight (cargo); also, to hire or rent out (a vehicle or vessel) to carry cargo or passengers.
2. (transitive) To transport (goods).
3. (broadly, transitive) To load or store (goods, etc.).
4. (figuratively, transitive) To carry (something) as if it is a burden or load.
5. (US, also, figuratively, intransitive) Chiefly followed by up: to carry as part of a cargo.

Adj

Freighted; laden.

Synonyms

cargo

load

lading

freightage

goods

fare

shipment

burden

baggage

charter

loading

carriage

transport

freight charges

shipping cost

hire

freight rate

payload

consignment

haul

onus

pack

portage

remittance

rent

ship

🚢

shipping

storage

transportation

transport charges

transporting

truckage

trucking

vessel

wages

shipping charge

transportation fee

transporter-erector-launcher

passage-money

cost of transport

cost of transportation

cost of transportatior

transport cost

goods traffic

freight service

freight transport

carrier’s charges

transport movement

affreight

ship cargo

Translations

fret

Fracht

carico

vracht

flete

cargaison

carga

frete

chargement

carga

nolo

φορτίο

ναύλος

trasporto

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɹeɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: freight

Cognate with French: fret

Cognate with Old English: ǣht

Cognate with Old High German: frēht

Cognate with Portuguese: frete

Cognate with Spanish: flete

Cognate with Swedish: frakt

Inherited from Middle English: freighten

Inherited from Middle English: freght

In summary

From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast of a ship; goods; a charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, and Middle Low German vrecht (“cargo, freight; transportation fee”), from Old Saxon frāht, frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- (from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’)) + *aihti (from Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possessions, property”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)).
The English word can be analysed as for- + aught, and is a doublet of fraught.
Cognates
* French fret (“cargo, freight; transportation fees; rental of a ship”)
* Old English ǣht (“livestock; possession, property; power”)
* Old High German frēht (“earnings”)
* Portuguese frete (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)
* Spanish flete (“cargo, freight; charter (hire of a vehicle for transporting cargo)”)
* Swedish frakt c (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)

Sentences

The freight service would be the first scheduled international route for the airport .

It was to serve freight traffic of livestock and mining businesses .

A disused freight yard is located south of the station .