frightened

The word 'frightened' is built upon the Old English noun fryhto, meaning "fear" or "dread", which itself has Proto-Germanic roots. The addition of the verb-forming suffix '-en' transformed this noun into the verb 'frighten', meaning "to make afraid". Finally, the past participle suffix '-ed' was applied, creating an adjective that describes the state of having been made afraid. This etymological construction vividly illustrates a cause-and-effect relationship: an external agent or event (frightens) results in an internal emotional state (frightened).

Structure: fright (fear) + en (make) + ed (adjective suffix) - fright: From Middle English fright, friht, from Old English fryhto, fyrhto (fear, dread), of Germanic origin. The functional role is the core semantic root denoting fear. - en: A verb-forming suffix from Old English -nian, used to form verbs from adjectives or nouns, meaning "to make or become". Its functional role is to convert the noun 'fright' into the verb 'frighten'. - ed: A suffix from Old English -ed, -od, -ad, used to form the past participle of verbs, which can function as an adjective. Its functional role here is to create the participial adjective 'frightened'.