freshman

English

Etymology

From fresh +‎ man.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɛʃmən/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

freshman (plural freshmen)

(US, Canada, Philippines) A person (of either sex) entering the first year of an institution, especially a high school (ninth grade for US and Canada, grade 7 for Philippines), a university, or legislative body.
At the time I was a wide-eyed freshman, but I was soon to grow jaded and cynical.
- 1596, Thomas Nashe, Have with You to Saffron-Walden:
  When he was but yet a freshman in Cambridge.
- 1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl, act 3, scene 3:
  Sir Alexander: Then he's a graduate.
  Sir Davy: Say they trust him not?
  Sir Alexander: Then is he held a freshman and a sot,¶ And never shall commence, but being still barr'd¶ Be expuls'd from the master's side to th' twopenny ward,¶ Or else i' th' hole be plac'd.
- 2019 September 25, Geoffrey Kabaservice, “Impeach Trump? The United States is now in uncharted waters”, in The Guardian‎:
  As a country, we now enter what the seven freshmen called “unchartered waters”, with an unprecedented political and constitutional crisis looming on the horizon.
- January 7 2023, Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, “McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote”, in AP News‎:
  Trump may have played a role in swaying some holdouts — calling into a meeting of Republican freshmen the night before, and calling other members ahead of voting.
(obsolete) A novice; one in the rudiments of knowledge.
- 1619 August 6, James Howell, The Familiar Letters of James Howell, volume 1, published 1892, Letter XIII, page 39:
  I am but a Freshman yet in France, therefore I can send you no News but that all is here quiet, and 'tis no ordinary News that the French should be quiet.

Synonyms

(British) fresher
(US) frosh
(US, Philippines) freshie
(Canadian) grade nine student / grade 9 student / Grade 9 student / grade-niner / grade niner
(Canadian, Philippines, highschool, university) first-year student / first year student / 1st year student / 1st yr student
(Philippines) grade seven student / grade 7 student / Grade 7 student

Derived terms

freshman fifteen

Translations

a person of either sex entering the first year of an institution

Chinese:
Mandarin: 一年級新生／一年级新生 (yīniánjí xīnshēng), 新生 (zh) (xīnshēng)
Danish: rus c
Dutch: feut (nl) m, eerstejaars (nl), schacht (nl) m
Finnish: fuksi (fi)
French: bizut (fr) / bizuth (fr), bleu (fr) m, bleue (fr) f
German: Erstsemester (de), Ersti (de) (colloquial)
Hungarian: elsőéves (hu), gólya (hu)
Italian: matricola (it) f
Japanese: 新入生 (ja) (しんにゅうせい, shinnyūsei), 一年生 (ja) (いちねんせい, ichinensei)
Kazakh: бірінші курс студенті (bırınşı kurs studentı)
Korean: 신입생(新入生) (ko) (sinipsaeng), 일학년 (ilhangnyeon) (first-year student)
Macedonian: бруцош m (brucoš)
Norwegian: første klasse, førstis ( slang )
Polish: pierwszak (pl) m
Portuguese: calouro (pt), caloiro (pt), bicho (pt) m
Russian: первоку́рсник (ru) m (pervokúrsnik), первоку́рсница (ru) f (pervokúrsnica) (first-year student)
Slovene: bruc m
Spanish: novato (es) m, mechón (es) m, cachimbo (es) m
Swedish: förstaårselev c, recentior (sv) c
Tagalog: untaunan
Welsh: glasfyfyriwr m

novice; one in the rudiments of knowledge

Danish: grønskolling c
Dutch: beginneling (nl) m
German: Neuling (de) m
Polish: nowicjusz (pl) m

Anagrams

Fehrmans

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.