freak

Meanings

Noun

• A sudden change of mind
• Someone or something that is markedly unusual or unpredictable.
• A hippie.
• A drug addict.
• A nonconformist, especially in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or business practices; an oddball, especially in physiology (e.g., "circus freak"); unique, sometimes in a displeasing way.
• A person whose physique has grown far beyond the normal limits of muscular development; often a bodybuilder weighing more than 260 pounds (117.934 kilos).
• An enthusiast, or person who has an obsession with, or extreme knowledge of, something.
• A very sexually perverse individual.
• A streak of colour; variegation.
• A man, particularly a bold, strong, vigorous man.
• A fellow; a petulant young man.

Verb

• To react extremely or irrationally, usually under distress or discomposure.
• To make greatly distressed and/or a discomposed appearance.
• To be placed or place someone under the influence of a psychedelic drug, to experience reality withdrawal, or hallucinations (nightmarish), to behave irrational or unconventional due to drug use.
• To streak; to variegate

Adjective

• Strange, weird, unexpected.

Origin

• 1560, "sudden change of mind, whim", of uncertain origin. Probably from a dialectal word related to Middle English frekynge and Middle English friken, frikien, from Old English frician, or Middle English frek, from Old English frec, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (in which case, it would be related to the noun under Etymology 2). Compare Old High German freh, Old English frēcne.
• From Middle English freke, freike, from Old English freca, from Proto-Germanic *frekô, from *frekaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pereg-, *spereg-. Cognate with Old Norse freki, Old High German freh, German frech, Old English frēcne.