frons

See also: fröns

English

Grasshopper-head: a: antenna; b: ocelli; c: vertex; d: compound eye; e: occiput; f: gena; g: pleurostoma; h: mandible; i: labial palp; j: maxillary palps; k: maxilla; l: labrum; m: clypeus; n: frons

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin frōns (“the forehead, brow, front”). Doublet of front.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɹɒnz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɹɑnz/
• Rhymes: -ɒnz

Noun

frons (plural frontes)

1. (anatomy) In vertebrates, especially mammals, the forehead; the part of the cranium between the orbits and the vertex.
2. (entomology) The front part of the epicranium or head capsule of many insects; generally speaking, the area below or between the antennae and above the clypeus. Typically it lies between the genal or "cheek" areas on either side of the head.
   • 1981, J. F. McAlpine, Manual of Nearctic Diptera, volume 1, →ISBN, page 14:

     In a generalized insect the frons extends from the vertex to the frontoclypeal (epistomal) suture, between the two anterior tentorial pits.

3. (entomology) (of Diptera) The postfrons.
   • 1985, D. M. Wood, “A taxonomic conspectus of the Blondeliini of North and Central America and the West Indies (Diptera: Tachinidae)”, in Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada, volume 117, →DOI, page 9:

     In most blondeliines (and in most Tachinidae in general), males have a narrower frons than conspecific females […]

Synonyms

• forehead

Derived terms

• prefrons

References

• “frons”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “frons”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French fronce, from Old French fronce, from Frankish *hrunkja (“wrinkle”) from Proto-Germanic *hrunkijō, *hrunkitō (“fold, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to turn, bend”). The semantic narrowing to frowns on the forehead may be influenced by unrelated Latin frōns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔns/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: frons
• Rhymes: -ɔns

Noun

frons f (plural fronsen, diminutive fronsje n)

1. a frown, a furrow of one's eyebrows or forehead

   Ze keek met een diepe frons naar het document. ― She looked at the document with a deep frown.

   Zijn frons gaf zijn verwarring aan. ― His frown indicated his confusion.

   Ik zag een kleine fronsje op haar voorhoofd. ― I saw a tiny furrow on her forehead.

Related terms

• fronsen

Descendants

• Afrikaans: frons

Latin

Etymology 1

Frōns (forehead) virī.

Unknown. Per de Vaan, "no plausible etymology." Pokorny compares Irish braine (“prow, edge”), Old Norse brandr (“acroterium”)), deriving them from *bʰren- (“to project; edge”). De Vaan finds these proposed relationships to be unconvincing due to semantic difficulties. De Vaan suggests a possible derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰron-t- (“side where the mouth is, front”), perhaps from a root *gʷʰren-, itself perhaps the source of Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰrendʰ-. If this scenario is accepted, the term could be related to Latin frendō. However, de Vaan concedes that this explanation is "speculative."

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfrõːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfrɔns]

Noun

frōns f or m (genitive frontis); third declension

1. (literally):
   1. (anatomy) the forehead, brow, front

      Synonyms: ōs, vultus

      • 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.32:

        […] sit dēnique īnscrīptum in fronte ūnīus cuiusque quid dē rē pūblicā sentiat.

        Finally, let it be inscribed on the forehead of each one what he thinks about the Republic.
        (A reference to the ancient Roman practice of branding or tattooing runaway slaves and hardened criminals; the forehead was the most visible and degrading location for this mark of shame.)

   2. the brow or countenance as an indicator of the feelings

      Synonyms: vultus, faciēs

2. (figuratively):
   1. as the mirror of a person's character or feelings
   2. (in particular) as expressing shame

      frontem perfricāre

      to assume a bold air

      (literally, “to wipe the blush of one's brow”)

      1. (transferred sense) a sense of modesty; decorum, decency
         • 34 CE – 62 CE, Persius, 5 104:

           exclāmet Melicerta perīsse frontem dē rēbus

           (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. (Late Latin) as expressing impudence, boldness

      Synonym: ōs

3. (transferred sense):
   1. the outward appearance, external quality, look (as distinct from inward nature)

      Synonyms: faciēs, speciēs, forma, habitus

      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneid 4.476–477:

        [...] et maestam dictīs adgressa sorōrem,
        cōnsilium voltū tegit, ac spem fronte serēnat [...].

        [...] and [as Dido] approaches her sorrowful sister to talk, by her expression she hides her plan, and even shines with serene hope in her appearance.

      prīmā fronte ― at first sight

   2. the forepart of anything; the front, facade (as opposed to back and sides)

      Antonyms: tergum, latus

      ā fronte, in fronte, in prīmā fronte, in frontem ― in front, to the fore

   3. (military) the front of an army or fleet in battle array
   4. (surveying, geography) frontage (the part facing the road, river, coastline), usually in ref. to its length
      1. the coastline; a projecting piece of coast
   5. the outer extremity or face, the outer or inner surface (eg. of a wall), the top or bottom end (of a trench), the broad side (of a rectangle)
      1. either of the flat ends of a papyrus scroll
   6. the exposed surface, outer side of anything

Inflection

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	frōns	frontēs
genitive	frontis	frontium
dative	frontī	frontibus
accusative	frontem	frontēs frontīs
ablative	fronte	frontibus
vocative	frōns	frontēs

Derived terms

• frontālia
• frontālis
• frontātī
• frontō
• frontōsus

Descendants

• Dalmatian: fruant
• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: frãmti f, frãmte, frumti, frumte, frunti, frunte
  • Romanian: frunte f
• Emilian: frånt
• Italian: fronte f
• Old French: front m
  • French: front m (see there for further descendants)
  • Norman: front m
  • → Dutch: front
  • → Middle English: frount, ffront, ffrount, front, fronte, frounte, frountte, frownt, frownte, frunt, frunte
    • English: front (see there for further descendants)
    • Scots: front
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: frente f
• Old Occitan: front
  • Catalan: front m
  • Occitan: frònt m
• Old Galician-Portuguese: fronte
  • Galician: fronte f
  • Portuguese: fronte f
• Old Spanish: fruente f
  • Ladino:

    Hebrew script: פ׳רינטי

    Latin script: frente

  • Spanish: frente f (see there for further descendants)
• Romagnol: frònta
• Sicilian: frunti f
• → English: frons
• → Friulian: front
• → Romansh: frunt, frùnt, front
• → Sardinian: fronte, fronti, frunte
• → Spanish: frontis
• → Venetan: front

Etymology 2

Frōns (leafy branch)

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewd- (“to bud”), and related to Proto-Germanic *breutaną (“to crush, break”).

Alternative forms

• frōs
• frūns, frūs

Noun

frōns f (genitive frondis); third declension

1. (literally) a leafy branch; foliage; greenery

   Synonym: folium

   Limumque tenent in fronde relictum. (Metamorphoses, 1, 347, Ovidius)

   And they hold some leftover mud in their foliage. (Metamorphoses, 1, 347, Ovid)

2. (poetic) a garland made of leaves or twigs

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	frōns	frondēs
genitive	frondis	frondium
dative	frondī	frondibus
accusative	frondem	frondēs frondīs
ablative	fronde	frondibus
vocative	frōns	frondēs

Derived terms

• frondārius
• frondātiō
• frondātor
• frondeō
• frondeus
• frondifer
• frondōsus

Related terms

• frondēscō

Descendants

• Italian: fronda
• Spanish: fronda
• Friulian: frind
• → Catalan: fronda
• → English: frond
• → French: fronde
• → Portuguese: fronde
• → Spanish: fronde

Further reading

• “frons” on page 810 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• “frons”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “frons”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "frons", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “frons”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to frown: frontem contrahere (opp. explicare)
    
  • to beat one's brow: frontem ferire, percutere
    
  • one can see it in his face: in fronte alicuius inscriptum est
    
  • not to betray one's feelings by one's looks: sententiam fronte celare, tegere