What does “frászt kap” mean in Hungarian?

When something scares the daylights out of a Hungarian, they “frászt kapnak” — they catch the frász. The frász is an old word for a fit, spasm or convulsion (once a folk name for epilepsy or a fright-induced seizure), so the image is of fear hitting you like a physical shock. Today it is purely figurative and informal: “frászt kaptam tőled” = you scared me half to death.

The trailer line “ha az emberek frász kaptak tőlem” plays this for comedy — a character bragging that people freak out at the mere sight of him. You’ll also hear the standalone exclamation “a frász!” used like “yikes!” and the threat “frászt hozok rád” (I’ll give you a fright). Pair it with megijed (to get scared) as the neutral, non-idiomatic alternative.