frontal

Etymology

The adjective is partly borrowed from Medieval Latin frontālis (“of the forehead”), recorded in post-classical Latin from the 13th century, and partly formed from English front + -al.^[2][3] Most dictionaries take the Latin word as New Latin.^[4][5][6][7] It comes from Latin frōns (“forehead, brow, front”), with the suffix -ālis.^[2][4][3] An Anglo-Norman adjective fruntel (“front, frontal”) is recorded from the early 13th century.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the forehead: 1630, in Edward Poeton's Chyrurgians Closet;^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1656^[4] and Etymonline to the 1650s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The anatomical sense, of the forehead or the bone behind it, came first.^[2][5] From it came the brain's frontal lobe (1831) and, as a noun, the frontal bone (1657).^[2] The general sense "at or of the front" is recorded from 1777; in the 19th century the word came to be used of a view from the front (1843) and of an attack made directly against an enemy's front (1851), later of any direct challenge or criticism.^[2][4] The 20th century added a head-on collision (1945),^[2] weather fronts (1908)^[2][9] and nudity showing the whole front of the body (1961), as in full frontal.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1630 – of or relating to the forehead.^[2]
• 1657 – noun, the frontal bone.^[2]
• 1777 – of or at the front of something.^[2]
• 1831 – of the frontal lobe of the brain.^[2]
• 1851 – of an attack, made against the enemy's front.^[2]
• 1908 – of a weather front.^[2]
• 1945 – of a head-on collision.^[2]
• 1961 – of nudity, showing the whole front of the body.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, at or relating to the front of something: a frontal view of the cathedral.^[9][4][2]
2. Of or relating to the forehead or the frontal bone.^[9][4][5]
3. Relating to the frontal lobes of the brain.^[2][9]
4. Of an attack or criticism, made directly against the front or the main point; head-on.^[4][2]
5. Of nudity, showing the whole front of the body.^[2][3]
6. (meteorology) Relating to or caused by a weather front: frontal rain.^[9][2]

Noun

1. The frontal bone.^[4][2]

Word family

• frontally
• frontality
• fronto-
• full-frontal
• interfrontal
• nasofrontal
• postfrontal
• prefrontal

Related words

• front
• frontlet
• frontier
• affront
• confront
• frontispiece

Usage notes

A separate noun frontal, first a band or ornament worn on the forehead and now chiefly a decorated covering for the front of an altar, has a separate source: it is frontel, from Anglo-Norman frontel and Latin frontāle, and is recorded from before 1350; the altar sense dates from 1435.^{[2][5][10][9]}

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt