Wordwyrt

frequency

/ˈfɹikwənsi/FREE-kwuhn-see
/ˈfɹikwənsi/FREE-kwuhn-see

Meaningthe quality of being frequent

Common meaning: how often something happens

Other meanings: rate of vibration

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bhark- or *bhrak-‘shut in, stop up, cram’source
  2. Latinfrequēns, -entis‘crowded’
  3. Old Frenchfrequentsource
  4. Englishfrequent‘occurring again and again’
  5. Englishformed in English from frequentfrequency‘how often something happens’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from frequent + -ency.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), FREQUENT, p.219 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app