Etymograph

English

front

Front comes from Old French front ‘forehead’, and goes back to Latin frōns.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrōns1as frōns‘forehead’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400front1‘forehead’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500front1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593front1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English front
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrōnsWiktionary, English frontas frōns‘forehead’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400frontWiktionary, English front‘forehead’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frontWiktionary, English front
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593frontWiktionary, English front. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with front, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin frōns ‘forehead’

10 more relatives in the full family tree

No ads, ever.

Become a founding member, $29 onceI have a code

Explore everything descended from frōns →

No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.

Become a founding member, $29 onceWear this word, $32Support the app

Today it means

noun The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “front”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin frōns / front