Affreight

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To contract a vessel for transporting cargo over water
2. To arrange for a ship to convey freight by hiring its use
3. To secure a maritime vessel for the purpose of carrying goods

Etymology: Affreight comes from the Old French "affreter," meaning to charter a ship, which itself grew from "fret," a freight or cargo, and ultimately traces to a Germanic or Low German source related to the idea of paying for the carriage of goods. The verb is a rare term of maritime commerce, used when one party hires a vessel to carry goods on behalf of another. Its pieces are easier to see once you notice the prefix. The "af-" is a form of the Latin "ad," meaning "to," and it was attached to "freight" in the sense of hiring transport. The word thus describes the act of binding a ship to a cargo, rather than the cargo itself. The "freight" element entered English through Middle English from Middle Dutch "vrecht," and the cargo sense that passed into the verb developed alongside the Dutch and Low German shipping trade of the late Middle Ages.