frequent

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɹiː.kwənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French fréquent or directly borrowed from Latin frequens (“crowded, repeated, in great numbers”),^[2][3][4] of uncertain origin;^[3][5][6] Watkins and Barnhart derive it from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bʰrekʷ- (“to cram together”), comparing farcīre (“to stuff”), but Beekes doubts this.^[3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ample or profuse: about 1450,^[2] the mid-15th century in Etymonline, a sense found only in late Middle English.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Crowded, of a place or assembly, is from 1536.^[8] Common or usual is first recorded in Elyot's Boke Named the Governour (1531),^[2][8] and happening at short intervals, the main modern sense, from 1604.^[2][8] Addicted or accustomed to a practice is from 1560.^[8] The verb, to visit or associate with, is from 1477,^[2] borrowed from French fréquenter or Latin frequentāre (“to visit regularly”), and to visit often from the 1550s.^[3] Frequency meant a crowd in the 16th century and the rate of a vibration from 1831.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – ample, profuse.^[2]
• 1477 – the verb.^[2]
• 1531 – common, usual.^[2][8]
• 1604 – happening often.^[2][8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Happening often or at short intervals.
2. Habitual or constant: a frequent visitor.

Verb

1. To visit a place often or habitually.

Word family

• frequentation
• frequentness
• frequenter
• frequentable
• frequentative
• nonfrequent
• overfrequent
• unfrequent

Related words

• frequency
• frequently
• infrequent
• farce

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press