fret [OE] If we tell an anxious person not to fret, we are telling them not to worry, but in Old English the word meant ‘devour, consume’. It is from the same root as *eat. The fret [LME] in fretsaw [M19th], and fretwork [E17th] is a different word, from Old French freté ‘trelliswork’, while the fret [E16th] on a guitar neck is yet another word, of unknown origin.