Freshe

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An obsolete spelling of the adjective fresh, used for something new, recent, or not stale in older English texts
2. A former variant spelling of fresh, describing something new, unused, or untainted as found in early writing
3. An archaic form of the word fresh, meaning new, recent, or pure, seen in Middle and early modern English

Etymology: Fresh, spelled "freshe" here, is the older form of the adjective, and its history splits into two strands. The main one runs from Old English "fersċ," meaning fresh, pure or sweet, through Middle English "fressh." Its relatives are everywhere in Germanic and Baltic languages: German "frisch," Dutch "vers," Swedish "frisk," and even Russian "présnyj," which can mean sweet, fresh or unleavened. Their shared ancestor is a Proto-Germanic word meaning fresh, which points to a very old sense of clean, uncorrupted newness. The other strand is a much later slang use. Around 1848, American slang picked up "fresh" to mean impudent or cheeky. That sense probably comes from German "frech," which meant bold or insolent and descends from an old word for greedy or eager. The American use may be a separate line of development from the older English sense, though the two have since blurred in everyday speech. The adjective also produced the verb "freshen," from Middle English, meaning to make something fresh again.

Synonyms: fresh, new, recent

Antonyms: stale, old