front

Pronunciation

• IPA: /frʌnt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English front (also frount), borrowed from Old French front (“forehead, brow”),^[2][3][4] from Latin frōns (“forehead, brow; front, facade”) (accusative frontem),^[2][3][5] which de Vaan finds to have no plausible etymology.^[2] Klein and Barnhart suggest a root Proto-Indo-European *bhren- (“to project, stand out”), comparing Irish words for the prow of a ship.^[6][3][2] It is related to affront, confront, effrontery, frontier and frontispiece.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The forehead: about 1300,^[3] or the late 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “the foremost part of anything” appears before 1338, in Mannyng's Chronicle,^[3] or the mid-14th century.^[2] The face as showing character is from the late 14th century, hence frontless, “shameless”, about 1600.^[2] The foremost part of an army is from the mid-14th century, the field of operations facing the enemy from the 1660s, and the home front from 1919.^[2] The verb meant “to face” from 1523,^[3][8][9] and “to confront” from 1525.^[9] In front is from the 1610s.^[2] A public facade is a front from 1891, a cover for illegal activity from 1905, the boundary between air masses from 1921, and an organized political grouping from 1926.^[2] Frontal is from 1656.^[3] The front door is named from 1807 and the newspaper front page from 1892.^[2] To front, to serve as a public face for something, is from 1932.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – the forehead.^[3]
• before 1338 – the foremost part (Mannyng).^[3]
• mid-14th century – the front of an army.^[2]
• 1523 – verb, to face.^[3]
• 1610s – in front.^[2]
• 1660s – the battle front.^[2]
• 1891 – a public facade.^[2]
• 1905 – a cover for crime.^[2]
• 1921 – a weather front.^[2]
• 1926 – a political front.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The forward part or surface, as of a building.
2. The area or position directly ahead.
3. A position of leadership: in the front of the race.
4. (poetic) The forehead or face.
5. An outward, often false, appearance; a facade.
6. A person or business serving as a cover for secret or illegal activity.
7. The zone of military operations facing the enemy.
8. (meteorology) The boundary between two air masses.
9. A coalition of political groups.

Adjective

1. Of or at the front.
2. (phonetics) Of a vowel, made toward the front of the mouth.

Verb

1. To face or look out on.
2. To confront.
3. To serve as a front for; to lead a band.

Related words

• affront
• effrontery
• confront
• frontier
• frontal
• frontispiece

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)