frosh meaning: definition, etymology

frosh

noun

UK /ˈfɹɒʃ/ · US /ˈfɹɔʃ/

Etymology From Middle English frossh, frosch, from Old English frosc, from Proto-Germanic *fruskaz (“frog”), from Proto-Indo-European *prew- (“to jump, hop”). Cognate with West Frisian froask (“frog”), Dutch vors (“frog”), German Frosch (“frog”), Norwegian frosk (“frog”), Icelandic froskur (“frog”). Doublet of frosk; more at frog.

Dialectal A frog.

1565 (1593), Golding, Ovid's Met. xv. (1593) pg. 356

frosh

verb

Etymology Blend of freshman + sophomore.

Slang To initiate academic freshmen, notably in a testing way.

This campus does not tolerate froshing in any form.

Slang To damage through incompetence.

Trying to open my car door with a coat hanger, I froshed the mechanism.

Synonyms: haze
Derived terms: froshing

frosh

noun

Etymology Blend of freshman + sophomore.

Colloquial A first-year student, at certain universities, and a first-or-second-year student at other universities.

The frosh are really getting on my nerves!

Abbreviation, Colloquial, Ellipsis Ellipsis of frosh week.

Synonyms: underclassman, newbie, fresher
Derived terms: prefrosh

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.