Etymologically
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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.
  • 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)