What does frosted mean?
'Frosted' is an adjective describing something covered with frost or given a frost-like finish. Most literally, it applies to surfaces touched by freezing air — lawns, branches, car windshields turned white with ice crystals overnight. By extension it describes any matte, semi-opaque effect that mimics this appearance, most familiar in frosted glass, which admits light while blurring what lies behind it. The word also has culinary uses: a frosted cake is one covered in sugary icing, and frosted breakfast cereals carry a glazed sugar coating. Informally, 'frosted' can describe hair with pale, lightened streaks, a style strongly associated with late-twentieth-century fashion. Derived from the noun 'frost', which traces back through Old English 'forst' to Germanic roots, the word carries connotations of winter chill, crispness, and delicacy. Its versatility across weather, design, food, and style makes it a compact example of how a single physical phenomenon lends its name to a whole family of visual effects.
Covered with frost, or treated so as to resemble a frost coating — matte, sugary, or semi-opaque.
"He wrote his name on the frosted bathroom door in condensation."
Commonly used attributively: frosted glass, frosted cake, frosted windshield.
Past tense and past participle of the verb 'frost': to coat something with frost or icing.
"The cold snap frosted the fields overnight."
Those 'frosted tips' of 1990s boy-band fame borrowed the same word that coats winter windows and breakfast cereal — one adjective, three very different surfaces.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of frosted
'Frosted' is the past participle of the verb 'frost', derived from the Old English noun 'forst' (also 'frost'), which comes from Proto-Germanic *furista-, related to the root behind 'freeze'. The Germanic family gives cognates such as Dutch 'vorst' and German 'Frost'. The adjective senses developed from literal coating by frost into figurative finishes on glass, cakes, and hair, spreading these meanings from at least the nineteenth century onward.
Related word forms
How frosted is actually used
Predominantly descriptive; often used attributively before a noun (a frosted pane). The hair-lightening sense is informal and somewhat dated, peaking in popularity in the 1990s. In baking contexts, 'frosted' overlaps with 'iced', which is the more common term in British English for covering a cake with icing.
Easily confused with frosted
Frostbite is tissue damage caused by freezing temperatures, whereas frosted merely describes something coated with or finished like frost.