Etymologically
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frequent

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 05:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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