Free

How to spell free

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce free

What does free mean?

1. adjectiveAvailable without charge or payment.
2. adjectiveNot under the control or restraint of another; able to act as one wishes.
3. verbTo release someone or something from confinement or constraint.

Free in a sentence

• adjective

  The museum offers free entry on the first Sunday of each month.

• adjective

  After years of negotiation the prisoners were finally free to return home.

• verb

  Rescuers worked for hours to free the driver from the wreckage.

• adjective

  Every order over fifty pounds qualifies for free delivery.

• adjective

  Once the meeting ends you are free to leave whenever you like.

• verb

  The charity aims to free families from crippling debt.

Where does free come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending from the Old English freo, meaning 'not enslaved' or 'acting of one's own will'. It traces further back to a Proto-Germanic root frijaz, which carried the surprising older sense of 'beloved' or 'belonging to one's own people', the idea being that the free members of a household were the loved kin rather than the captives. That same root gives us 'friend', whose ancient meaning was simply 'one who is dear', so 'free' and 'friend' are close cousins in the family tree. The sense of 'costing nothing' is a much later, more commercial development, growing out of the older notion of being unencumbered or unobligated. Because the word is short and phonetically regular, the spelling has stayed remarkably stable, with the double 'ee' marking the long vowel.

How the word is built

• free (from Old English freo: not in bondage, noble); a single root word with no affixes