infrequent
UK[ɪnˈfriːkwənt]US[ɪnˈfriːkwənt]
adj
Not happening often; not common or regular.
Morpheme Breakdown
in
frequent
in
not
frequent
often occurring
Etymology
The word "infrequent" is a direct borrowing from the Latin infrequent-, which itself was formed by combining the negative prefix in- with the adjective frequent- (meaning crowded, numerous, or regular). The core semantic journey begins with the Proto-Indo-European root bhrekʷ- meaning "to crowd", which evolved into the Latin frequens. The literal Latin sense of "crowded" naturally extended to mean "repeated often" or "common". By adding the negative prefix, the compound word logically creates the meaning "not crowded" or "not occurring often", a sense which has been preserved directly into modern English usage.
Analysis
Structure: in (not) + frequent (often occurring)
- in: Latin origin, a prefix meaning "not" or "without".
- frequent: From Latin frequent-, meaning "crowded, repeated, regular".
Examples
His visits to the office became increasingly infrequent.
We have infrequent but heavy rainfall in this desert region.
Infrequent monitoring of the system can lead to undetected problems.