【Abrade】 , 【excoriate】 , 【chafe】 , 【fret】 and 【gall】 all mean to affect a surface by rubbing, scraping, or wearing away.

【Abrade】 usually implies rubbing or scraping by something hard or harsh: when the surface rubbed or scraped is soft, injury results, but when it approaches the other in hardness, a smoothing or polishing (as by grinding) may be achieved.

• My skin was abraded and very tender.
• The skin of her leg was abraded by the sharp rocks.

【Excoriate】 which literally implies a stripping or wearing away of the skin or hide usually suggests a peculiarly painful effect on something soft or tender made by something (as an abrasive or abrasion or a corrosive substance) that removes or destroys a protective layer such as the skin or mucous membrane.

• Long and hard work excoriated his hands.
• His palms were excoriated by the hard labor of shoveling.

【Chafe】 (see also:  【Chafe】 vs Chaff ) suggests a slight but persistent and painful or injurious rubbing of one thing upon another.

• Her wrists chafed where the rope had been.
• The collar was far too tight and chafed her neck.
• Skin is easily irritated, chapped, chafed, and sensitized.

【Fret】 suggests an eating into or wearing away.

• Dripping water fretted a channel through the stone.

【Gall】 is used especially with reference to animals and, less often, to persons: it implies a superficial injury such as an abrasion or blister made by friction.

• An ill-fitting saddle galled the horse’s back.

All have extended usage with an implication of irritating or wearing. 【Abrade】 and 【chafe】 usually suggest a persistent cause.

• He soon chafed at the restrictions of his situation.

【Excoriate】 is used rather specifically of a censuring so severe as to cause real distress or mental anguish.

• He proceeded to 【excoriate】 me in front of the nurses.

【Fret】 and 【gall】 typically imply a causing of emotional wear and tear.

• Her baby starts to 【fret】 as soon as she goes out of the room.
• It must have galled him that Bardo thwarted each of these measures.