freight
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.goods that are moved from one place to another by ship, train, truck, or plane.
n.goods or cargo transported by commercial means. Uncountable in this sense.
Simple“The ship was carrying a heavy load of freight across the ocean.”
In context“The port handles millions of tons of freight annually, ranging from raw industrial materials to finished consumer electronics.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the system or business of moving goods.
n.the commercial transportation of goods, often used to distinguish from passenger services.
Simple“It is often cheaper to send large items by freight than by mail.”
In context“The government is investing in the rail network to encourage more companies to move their goods by freight rather than by road.”
Synonyms - 03 C2 Proficiency
n.the extra meaning or feelings that a word or situation carries.
n.the figurative burden or weight of emotional or cultural associations attached to something.
Simple“The word 'home' carries a lot of emotional freight for people who live abroad.”
In context“The historical novel is heavy with the freight of past grievances, making it a challenging but rewarding read.”
Synonyms - 04 C1 Advanced
v.to fill something with goods or with a particular feeling.
v.to load a vessel or vehicle with cargo; figuratively, to charge or imbue something with a specific quality or emotion.
Simple“His voice was freighted with sadness as he told the story.”
In context“The air was freighted with the scent of pine and damp earth after the heavy summer rain.”
“In 2024, a firebomb in a parcel posted via DHL exploded in a freight container on the tarmac at Leipzig airport.”
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”)
The verb is derived from Late Middle English freighten, freghten, a variant of fraughten, fraghten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods; to provide fully (with goods, money, etc.); to stow away”), and then either: * from fraught, fraght (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs); or * from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods, to fraught”), from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs). The adjective is: * derived from Middle English freght, freight, freyght, the past participle of fraughten (verb) (see above); and/or * a contraction of freighted, the past participle of the verb.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.