Is afraid a long a word

Key Difference: People get easily confused with these two words Scared and Afraid,which are adjectives and both express the same degree of fear. The primary difference is Scared can be used for both, before a noun and predicative after a verb, while Afraid is generally not used before a noun, but rather followed by a verb.

​​As both the words are adjectives and in some cases are even interchangeable, but afraid has a different meaning which is not the same meaning for scared. The confusion with both these words come as both afraid and scared deal  with fear.

Thus, Afraid here means having a feeling of fear or apprehension while Scared means being in a state of fright, suddenly alarmed or panicking.

Afraid is used as a synonym of Scared and sometimes vice versa, but using scared always instead of afraid is incorrect. Afraid is also used to be polite to share some bad news, regret or apology and is also used to formally decline something like for example, I am afraid, I will not be able to enjoy the party this weekend. The grammar for scared and afraid also differs with use of ‘by’ as preposition that often follows scared, however using afraid in the same sense does not make any sense, like for example, The small kid was scared by the insect, whereas you cannot be afraid by something or things.

Afraid makes more sense when it is used after describing the noun, for example;

• The scared kids were hiding in the house.

• The kids hiding in the house were afraid.

Though both the words can be followed using ‘of’ and ‘ing’ form.

• They were scared of/ afraid of jumping to 10ft swimming pool.

Both the words can be followed by a to+infinitive like:

• He was too scared to scream.

• I am not afraid to tell the truth.

Position of afraid is followed by a verb and not generally used before a noun like:

• She is afraid of him. (But she is not an afraid woman.)

Synonyms of both the words express fear as a emotion but at varying levels like:

• Scared is similar to frightened or terrified and expresses how people feel like I felt scared when the elevator stopped.

• Frightened means afraid or fearful.

• Terrified means to be extremely scared or be afraid.

• Spooked means to be startled or be suddenly alarmed like being scared.

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• affrayed (obsolete)
• ‘fraid (aphetic)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English affrayed, affraied, past participle of afraien (“to affray”), from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”), from Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”), from es- (“out”) +‎ freer (“to secure, secure the peace”), from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from Proto-Germanic *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Synchronically analyzable as affray +‎ -ed. Compare also afeard. More at free, friend.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɹeɪd/
• Rhymes: -eɪd

Adjective[edit]

afraid (comparative more afraid, superlative most afraid)

(predicative)

1. Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.

   Synonyms: afeared, alarmed, anxious, apprehensive, fearful, timid, timorous; see also Thesaurus:afraid

   He is afraid of death.

   He is afraid to die.

   He is afraid that he will die.

   • 1964, Truman, Harry S., MP2002-77 Former President Truman Discusses Bigotry in the United States‎^[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162, 2:28 from the start:

     I went through the worst Ku Klux proposition in the country at the time it was at its height. And I had to go down to the Ku Klux meeting and tell them what I thought of them, and I wasn’t afraid of them at all. And I’m not afraid of this situation because I think it’ll work out in a way that when these people sit down and get a chance to think and study the situation, they’re going to be ashamed of some of the things they’ve done.

2. (colloquial) Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation.

   Synonym: sorry

   I am afraid I cannot help you in this matter.

3. (used with for) Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something).

Usage notes[edit]

• Afraid expresses a lesser degree of fear than terrified or frightened. It is often followed by the preposition of and the object of fear, or by an infinitive, or by a dependent clause, as shown in the examples above.

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• afear
• afeared
• affray
• fray

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• fear

Welsh[edit]

Etymology[edit]

af- (“un-”) +‎ rhaid (“necessity”)

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈavrai̯d/

Adjective[edit]

afraid (feminine singular afraid, plural afraid, equative afreidied, comparative afreidiach, superlative afreidiaf)

1. unnecessary, unessential
   • c. 1500, Ieuan Tew, poem in Cwrt Mawr manuscript no. 5, published and translated 1921 by T. Gwynn Jones, “Cultural Bases. A Study of the Tudor Period in Wales”, Y Cymmrodor. The Magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, vol. 31, page 182:

     mogelwch yma golyn
     a fo goeg, ag afu gwyn—
     a choegddyn crin, ledryn crach,
     o fradwr—nid afreidiach;

     beware of the sting of white-livered wretches, and every withered, niggardly wretch of a traitor—it were not less necessary;

   • c. 1600, Edmwnd Prys, quoted in A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative by J. Morris Jones, Oxford: 1913, p. 44:

     Amlwg fydd trŵyn a’r wyneb;
     Afraid i ni nodi neb.

     Plain is the nose on a face; it is unnecessary for us to mention anyone.

Noun[edit]

afraid m (plural afreidiau)

1. superfluity, extravagance

Mutation[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “afraid”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies