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PlainSpell

frequent

/ˈfɹiː.kwənt/adjective, verb

frequent is spelled F-R-E-Q-U-E-N-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,521st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, frequent means “Done or occurring often; common” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in frequent?

Letters8: F-R-E-Q-U-E-N-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing19 times per million words; the 4,521st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is frequent?

Frequent appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,521st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce frequent?

  • US /ˈfɹiː.kwənt/

As a verb (“To visit often”): /fɹɪˈkwɛnt/.

Frequent has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-frequent-adj.ogg, En-us-frequent-verb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of frequent

  • more frequent comparative
  • frequenter comparative
  • most frequent superlative
  • frequentest superlative
  • frequents present, singular, he/she/it
  • frequenting participle, present
  • frequented participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does frequent mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Done or occurring often; common.

    I take frequent breaks so I don't get too tired.

  2. 2

    Occurring at short intervals.

  3. 3

    Addicted to any course of conduct; inclined to indulge in any practice; habitual; persistent.

  4. 4

    obsoleteFull; crowded; thronged.

  5. 5

    obsoleteOften or commonly reported.

verb

  1. 1

    To visit often.

    I used to frequent that restaurant.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Frequent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfréquent (done or occurring often), fréquenter, hanter (to visit often)
Germanhäufig (done or occurring often)
Portuguesefreqüente, frequente (done or occurring often), frequentar (to visit often)
Spanishfrecuente (done or occurring often), frecuentar, prodigarse (to visit often)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does frequent come from?

From Old French frequent, from Latin frequens (“crowded, crammed, frequent, repeated, etc.”), possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰrekʷ- (“to cram together”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after frequent