A person who is easily scared or overly cautious, especially someone who avoids danger or risk because they're afraid.
American informal compound word combining 'afraid' (from Old English 'afræd') with 'cat'. The 'cat' part likely comes from the idea of cats being skittish or jumpy animals. Emerged in early 20th century American slang.
Kids have been calling each other 'fraidy-cats' for over a century—it's fascinating that we still compare scared people to cats even though house cats are actually pretty bold hunters! The phrase reveals how language preserves old animal comparisons long after people forget why they made sense.
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