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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

frons.

the forehead, brow, front

5 characters1 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈfrõːs]Classical-Latin[ˈfrɔns]
  1. the forehead, brow, front

    declension-3 · literally
  2. the brow or countenance as an indicator of the feelings

    declension-3 · literally
  3. as the mirror of a person's character or feelings

    declension-3 · figuratively
  4. as expressing shame

    declension-3 · figuratively
    frontem perfricāre
  5. as expressing shame a sense of modesty; decorum, decency

    declension-3 · figuratively
  6. as expressing impudence, boldness

    Late-Latin · declension-3 · figuratively
  7. the outward appearance, external quality, look (as distinct from inward nature)

    declension-3
    prīmā fronte
  8. the forepart of anything; the front, facade (as opposed to back and sides)

    declension-3
    ā fronte, in fronte, in prīmā fronte, in frontem
  9. the front of an army or fleet in battle array

    declension-3
  10. frontage (the part facing the road, river, coastline), usually in ref. to its length

    declension-3
  11. frontage (the part facing the road, river, coastline), usually in ref. to its length the coastline; a projecting piece of coast

    declension-3
  12. the outer extremity or face, the outer or inner surface (eg. of a wall), the top or bottom end (of a trench), the broad side (of a rectangle)

    declension-3
  13. the outer extremity or face, the outer or inner surface (eg. of a wall), the top or bottom end (of a trench), the broad side (of a rectangle) either of the flat ends of a papyrus scroll

    declension-3
  14. the exposed surface, outer side of anything

    declension-3
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Per De Vaan, "no plausible etymology." Pokorny compares Irish braine (“prow, edge”), Old Norse brandr (“acroterium”)), deriving them from *bʰren- (“to project; edge”). De Vaan finds these proposed relationships to be unconvincing due to semantic difficulties. De Vaan suggests a possible derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰron-t- (“side where the mouth is, front”), perhaps from a root *gʷʰren-, itself perhaps the source of Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰrendʰ-. If this scenario is accepted, the term could be related to Latin frendō. However, De Vaan concedes that this explanation is "speculative."

noun
  1. a leafy branch; foliage; greenery

    declension-3 · literally
    Limumque tenent in fronde relictum. (Metamorphoses, 1, 347, Ovidius)
  2. a garland made of leaves or twigs

    declension-3 · poetic
Where this word comes from

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewd- (“to bud”), and related to Proto-Germanic *breutaną (“to crush, break”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.