Etymologically
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frontier

Etymology and origin of the English word frontier

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1400
Borrowed from
Old French frontiere
Ultimate origin
Old French (frontiere)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /frʌnˈtɪə/, /ˈfrʌn.tɪə/, US /frʌnˈtɪr/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French frontiere (“boundary of a country, front rank of an army”),[2][3][4] from front, brow, front (see front),[2][3] from Latin frōns.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The front line of an army: probably before 1400 in the Morte Arthur;[2][6][3] earlier frountres, an altar cloth hanging over the edge (1392).[2]

Semantic evolution

The border of a country, the part that faces another country, is first recorded in 1413.[2][6][3] In the United States the frontier is the edge of the settled regions, from the 1670s;[3][6] the historian F. J. Turner quoted the census definition, the margin of settlement with two or more people to the square mile.[3] The figurative sense, the limit of knowledge in a field (the frontiers of science), is a later extension.[7][8] Frontiersman is from 1813.[2]

Timeline

  • 1392 – frountres, an altar cloth.[2]
  • before 1400 – the front line of an army.[2]
  • 1413 – a country's border.[2][6]
  • 1670s – the edge of settlement (US).[3]
  • 1813 – frontiersman.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A border between two countries, or the region along it.
  2. (US, Canada) The edge of the settled part of a country.
  3. The limit of knowledge or achievement in a field: the frontiers of science.

Word family

  • frontierless
  • frontierlike
  • frontiersman
  • frontierswoman
  • transfrontier
  • New Frontier
  • front
  • confront
  • effrontery
  • 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Frontier.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/frontier. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·