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): /ˈfriːlɑːns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiˌlæns/

Noun

freelance (plural freelances)

1. Someone who sells his services to employers without a long-term contract.
2. 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
• Spanish: freelance
• Swedish: frilans
• Turkish: freelance

Translations

Someone who sells his services to employers without a long-term contract

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

• Italian: collaboratore esterno, freelance (it)
• Spanish: trabajador autónomo m, freelance
• Swedish: frilans (sv) c

A 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 contract.

   He was a freelance writer for several magazines.

Translations

Of, or relating to a freelance

• Catalan: freelance (ca)
• Estonian: vabakutseline
• Finnish: freelance-, 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

To work as a freelance

• Finnish: työskennellä freelancerina

• Swedish: frilansa (sv)

To produce or sell services as a freelance

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

---

Spanish

Adjective

freelance (invariable)

1. freelance