Etymograph

English

seldom

Seldom comes from Middle English seldom.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seldom1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1651seldom1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English seldom
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1651, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […]: “a suppressed and seldom anger”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seldomWiktionary, English seldom
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1651seldomWiktionary, English seldom. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1651, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […]: “a suppressed and seldom anger”

The story

From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (‘seldom’), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English seldom

Today it means

adv Infrequently, rarely.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “seldom”. 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 / Middle English seldom / seldom

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