(charah, ma'ar):
To "fret" is from for (prefix) and etan, "to eat," "to consume." The word is both transitive and intransitive in King James Version:
(1) transitive as translation of charah, "to burn," Hithpael, "to fret one's self," "to be angry" (Ps 37:1, "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers";Ps 37:7,8;Pr 24:19); of qatsaph, "to be angry," etc. (Isa 8:21, "They shall fret themselves, and curse," etc.); of raghaz, to be moved" (with anger, etc.) (Eze 16:43, "Thou hast fretted me in all these things," the American Standard Revised Version "raged against me"). ForLe 13:55, see under Fretting below.
(2) Intransitive, it is the translation of ra`am, "to rage," Hiphil, "to provoke to anger" (1Sa 1:6, "Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret"); of za`aph, "to be sad," "to fret" (Pr 19:3, "His heart fretteth against Yahweh").
Fretting in the sense of eating away, consuming, is used of the leprosy, ma'ar, "to be sharp, bitter, painful" (Le 13:51,52;14:44, "a fretting leprosy"; inLe 13:55we have "it (is) fret inward" ("fret" past participle), as the translation of pehetheth from pahath, "to dig" (a pit), the word meaning "a depression," "a hollow or sunken spot in a garment affected by a kind of leprosy," the Revised Version (British and American) "it is a fret."
Revised Version has "fretful" for "angry" (Pr 21:19), margin "vexation."
W. L. Walker