seldom

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsɛldəm/ See IPA manual

Freq #10636

Meanings

1

adv
not often; rarely

He seldom goes out on weeknights.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · not often; rarely rarely hardly

Word family

Forms seldomer

Appears in

Proverbs (8)

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Etymology

From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian Bokmål sjelden, Norwegian Nynorsk sjeldan, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.

seldom Middle English seldan Old English *seldanā Proto-West Germanic *seldanē Proto-Germanic

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Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# seldom

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɛldəm/
**Frequency rank:** 10636

## Meanings
1. not often; rarely

## Examples
- He seldom goes out on weeknights.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: seldom
- Root: seldan
- Root: *seldanā
- Root: *seldanē

## Etymology
From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian Bokmål sjelden, Norwegian Nynorsk sjeldan, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.

## AI Etymology
Seldom is from late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian Bokmål sjelden, Norwegian Nynorsk sjeldan, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English seldom, Old English seldan, Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, Proto-Germanic *seldanē. In current use it includes the sense not often; rarely.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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