frivolous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English frivolous, spelt fryvolus in its first record,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Latin frīvolus (“silly, empty, trifling, worthless”) with the ending -ous.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} The Middle English Dictionary derives it from frivol, and Barnhart thinks the borrowing may have been influenced by frivol, a trifle.^[2][3] The Latin adjective is mainly late, according to Hoad.^[9] It is a diminutive of an unrecorded *frīvos (“broken, crumbled”),^[8][3] from friō (“to rub away, crumble”),^{[8][3][4][10]} the source of friable;^[8][3][10] Merriam-Webster connects it with friction.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unfounded, not worth answering: in a text of 1459, an answer says that a charge is "so fryvolus and full of derysioun" that a blast could dismiss it.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first quotation is from 1549, in Leland, for "of little or no value or importance",^[5] and the sense "silly, lacking seriousness" follows from about 1563.^[5] In law, by 1736, a frivolous plea was one so plainly insufficient that no argument was needed to show its weakness.^[8][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as slight, trifling, of no moment, citing both the Latin and French frivole.^[12] The noun frivolity appears in 1796, in Burke's letters, from frivolité or from frivol with -ity,^[3] and the verb to frivol is a 19th-century back-formation.^[9][13] In Scots the word could mean trifling or small, and in Shetland weak or sickly.^[14]

Timeline

• 1459 – unfounded, not worth answering.^[2][3]
• 1549 – of little or no value or importance.^[5]
• c. 1563 – silly, lacking seriousness.^[5]
• 1736 – in law, of a plea: plainly insufficient.^[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not serious or sensible; silly or light-minded: His frivolous jokes annoyed the committee.^[15][11][5]
2. Of little value or importance; trivial.^[15][11][5]
3. (law) Having no reasonable basis in law or fact: a frivolous lawsuit.^[11][5]

Word family

• frivolously
• frivolousness
• unfrivolous

Related words

• frivol
• frivolity
• friable
• friction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins