deffroi

Deffroi is an archaic French noun whose sense corresponds to fear, alarm, or dread. It is a historical variant of the modern word effroi and is encountered mainly in texts from the Middle French and Early Modern French periods. The exact etymology is not always distinguished in contemporary dictionaries, but deffroi is generally regarded as derived from the same root as effroi, with de- being part of the old formation rather than a negation.

In usage, deffroi denotes a sudden or overwhelming fright, a state of alarm, or a cause of alarm. It can be found in descriptions of peril, battles, or religious visions, where the emphasis is on visceral fear or horror. In many contexts, the divergence from effroi is limited to spelling; the semantic field remains closely aligned with fear and terror.

Today, deffroi is considered obsolete in modern French and is predominantly seen in historical writing, translations aiming to reproduce period diction, or studies of the French language. Modern equivalents are effroi or terreur, depending on intensity and nuance.

See also: effroi, peur, frayeur, terreur, horreur.