quondam
/ˈkwɒndəm/adjective
quondam is spelled Q-U-O-N-D-A-M: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, quondam means “Former; once; at one time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in quondam?
| Letters | 7: Q-U-O-N-D-A-M |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 30 million words; the 165,739th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is quondam?
Quondam appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th 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 quondam?
- /ˈkwɒndəm/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-quondam.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does quondam mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Former; once; at one time.
Present him if you please in my name to [John] Henry, [William] Grayson and all our quondam acquaintances and be assured that any civilities he receives from you will be gratefully remembered by me.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Quondam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense former:
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 quondam come from?
Borrowed from Latin quondam. Compare whilom.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).