megfagyni

Megfagyni is a Hungarian verb meaning to freeze to death or to become extremely cold due to exposure to severe cold. It is used to describe the state of a person, and less commonly an animal or object, when the cold is strong enough to threaten life or cause death. The term can refer to both the onset of extreme cold and its lethal consequence, or to a situation where someone is perilously close to hypothermia.

The verb is formed from the root fagyni (to freeze) with the prefix meg-, which in Hungarian often indicates a completed or definitive change of state and can add emphasis. Megfagyni is a perfective verb; its past participle is megfagyott (frozen to death). In ordinary usage, the infinitive often appears with future or conditional constructions, such as meg fog fagyni (will freeze to death) or meg fagynál? in conditional forms.

Usage and nuance: megfagyni is commonly found in weather reports, safety warnings, and literary descriptions of extreme cold. It conveys a sense of danger and urgency beyond simply becoming cold. It is not typically used for mild cold; rather, it denotes an extreme or potentially fatal level of cold exposure.

Examples:

- Ha kint maradsz egész éjjel mínusz tíz fokban, meg fog fagyni. (If you stay outside all night in minus ten degrees, you will freeze to death.)

- A hajléktalan megfagyott az éjszakai hidegben. (The homeless person froze to death in the night’s cold.)

Related terms include fagyni (to freeze) and fagy (frost).