Freck

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An archaic adjective describing someone who is bold, lively and quick to act or respond eagerly
2. Old-fashioned term for a person who is keen, ready and willing to take action without hesitation
3. Describing a brisk, spirited and eager disposition, used in older English and Scots writing

Etymology: "Freck" is a clipping, a shortened form, of "freckle," so the story runs through that longer word. The noun "freckle" traces back to Old Norse "freknur," a plural meaning freckles, which belonged to a Germanic family of words for skin spots and specks of colour. That Old Norse form is a variant of a Proto-Germanic word meaning "freckle," itself from a prehistoric root meaning "to sprinkle or strew," so a freckle was originally imagined as a scattering of tiny marks. The verb "to freck" is a separate matter. Its shortened form comes from "freckle" as a verb, so the word's modern use as a verb is the result of trimming back a longer form. The Middle English ancestors of "freckle" once had meanings far from skin, including "fleck of colour in a stone," which shows how the idea of a small speck was the central sense.