Afreighten

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To load goods onto a vessel for transport across water
2. To make someone responsible for the costs associated with shipping cargo
3. To instruct a carrier to transport merchandise under specific terms and conditions

Etymology: Afreighten is an old English verb meaning to hire or charter a ship to carry cargo, and its history is a plain one. It is formed from the prefix "a-" and the verb "freight," with the "-en" ending that turns it into a verb. The base word "freight" came into English from Middle Dutch "vrecht," a term for the hire paid for carrying goods by sea, and this shipping sense is its original one. Adding "a-" in the sense of "to" or "toward" produced a verb meaning to put freight on a vessel. The verb is a relatively uncommon one, mostly found in maritime and commercial writing, and it has been used alongside the more familiar "charter." Its exact date of first recorded use in English is not something I can confirm, so the surest picture is of a straightforward compound built from a well-established shipping term.