freelance

English

Alternative forms

• free-lance

Etymology

From free +‎ lance. Coined by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe (1820) to describe a medieval mercenary warrior or "free-lance" (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord's services). It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was recognized as a verb in 1903 by authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary. In modern times the term has morphed into an adjective, a verb, and an adverb, as well as the derivative noun freelancer.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiːlɑːns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiˌlæns/

Noun

freelance (plural freelances)

1. Someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract.
   • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

     The objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be so easily silenced.

   • 2014, Brian Mossop, Revising and Editing for Translators (page 192)

     The person you are revising (the revisee) is a colleague at your own rank, or another freelance.

2. (historical) A medieval mercenary.

Synonyms

• (medieval mercenary): see Thesaurus:mercenary

Derived terms

• freelancer

Descendants

Descendants of freelance in other languages

• Catalan: freelance
• Finnish: freelance
• French: freelance
• Japanese: フリーランス (furīransu)

• Portuguese: frila(br) freelance(pt)
• Spanish: freelance
• Swedish: frilans
• Turkish: freelance

Translations

one who sells their services to clients with short-term contracts

• Estonian: vabakutseline
• Finnish: freelancer (fi)
• French: pigiste (fr), freelance (fr)
• German: freier Mitarbeiter m

• Italian: collaboratore esterno, freelance (it)
• Persian: کارمزدی‎ (kārmozdi)
• Spanish: trabajador autónomo m, freelance
• Swedish: frilans (sv) c
• Ukrainian: фрілансер (frilanser)

medieval mercenary

• French: mercenaire (fr)

• Italian: mercenario (it) m

Adjective

freelance (comparative more freelance, superlative most freelance)

1. Of, or relating to a freelance; without employment contract.

   He was a freelance writer for several magazines.

Translations

Of, or relating to a freelance

• Catalan: freelance (ca), autònom (ca)
• Estonian: vabakutseline
• Finnish: freelance- (fi), vapaa (fi)
• French: à la pige, indépendant (fr)

• Irish: neamhspleách
• Spanish: freelance
• Thai: อิสระ (th) (ìt-sà-rà)
• Turkish: freelance-, ^{(please verify)} Açık İş

Verb

freelance (third-person singular simple present freelances, present participle freelancing, simple past and past participle freelanced)

1. (intransitive) To work as a freelance.
2. (transitive) To produce or sell services as a freelance.

Translations

intransitive: to work as a freelance

• Finnish: työskennellä freelancerina

• Spanish: trabajar por cuenta propia, trabajar por libre (Spain)
• Swedish: frilansa (sv)

transitive: to produce or sell services as a freelance

• Finnish: tehdä freelancerina

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} フリーランス (ja) (furīransu)

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} frilans

---

Finnish

Etymology

English freelance

Noun

freelance

1. (rare) Synonym of freelancer (“freelancer”)
2. (as modifier) freelance

   freelancetoimittaja ― freelance journalist

Declension

Inflection of freelance (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		freelance	freelancet
genitive		freelancen	freelancejen
partitive		freelancea	freelanceja
illative		freelanceen	freelanceihin
		singular	plural
nominative		freelance	freelancet
accusative	nom.	freelance	freelancet
	gen.	freelancen
genitive		freelancen	freelancejen freelanceinrare
partitive		freelancea	freelanceja
inessive		freelancessa	freelanceissa
elative		freelancesta	freelanceista
illative		freelanceen	freelanceihin
adessive		freelancella	freelanceilla
ablative		freelancelta	freelanceilta
allative		freelancelle	freelanceille
essive		freelancena	freelanceina
translative		freelanceksi	freelanceiksi
instructive		—	freelancein
abessive		freelancetta	freelanceitta
comitative		—	freelanceineen

Possessive forms of freelance (type nalle)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	freelanceni	freelancemme
2nd person	freelancesi	freelancenne
3rd person	freelancensa

Compounds

• freelancenäyttelijä
• freelancetoimittaja
• freelancetyö
• freelancetyöntekijä

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁi.lɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

freelance (plural freelances)

1. freelance

Noun

freelance m or f (plural freelances)

1. freelance

---

Spanish

Adjective

freelance (invariable)

1. freelance

Noun

freelance m (plural freelances)

1. freelancer