freshman

English

Etymology

From fresh +‎ man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɛʃmən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

freshman (plural freshmen)

1. (US, Canada, Philippines) A person (of either sex) entering the first year of an institution, especially a high school (ninth grade for US and Canada, grade 7 for Philippines), a university, or legislative body.

   At the time I was a wide-eyed freshman, but I was soon to grow jaded and cynical.

   • 1596, Thomas Nashe, Have with You to Saffron-Walden:

     When he was but yet a freshman in Cambridge.

   • 1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl, act 3, scene 3:

     Sir Alexander: Then he's a graduate.
     Sir Davy: Say they trust him not?
     Sir Alexander: Then is he held a freshman and a sot,¶ And never shall commence, but being still barr'd¶ Be expuls'd from the master's side to th' twopenny ward,¶ Or else i' th' hole be plac'd.

   • 2019 September 25, Geoffrey Kabaservice, “Impeach Trump? The United States is now in uncharted waters”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     As a country, we now enter what the seven freshmen called “unchartered waters”, with an unprecedented political and constitutional crisis looming on the horizon.

   • January 7 2023, Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, “McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote”, in AP News‎^[2]:

     Trump may have played a role in swaying some holdouts — calling into a meeting of Republican freshmen the night before, and calling other members ahead of voting.

2. (obsolete) A novice; one in the rudiments of knowledge.
   • 1619 August 6, James Howell, The Familiar Letters of James Howell, volume 1, published 1892, Letter XIII, page 39:

     I am but a Freshman yet in France, therefore I can send you no News but that all is here quiet, and 'tis no ordinary News that the French should be quiet.

Synonyms

• (British) fresher
• (US) frosh
• (US, Philippines) freshie
• (Canadian) grade nine student / grade 9 student / Grade 9 student / grade-niner / grade niner
• (Canadian, Philippines, highschool, university) first-year student / first year student / 1st year student / 1st yr student
• (Philippines) grade seven student / grade 7 student / Grade 7 student

Derived terms

• freshman fifteen

Translations

a person of either sex entering the first year of an institution

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一年級新生／一年级新生 (yīniánjí xīnshēng), 新生 (zh) (xīnshēng)

• Danish: rus c
• Dutch: feut (nl) m, eerstejaars (nl), schacht (nl) m
• Finnish: fuksi (fi)
• French: bizut (fr) / bizuth (fr), bleu (fr) m, bleue (fr) f
• German: Erstsemester (de), Ersti (de) (colloquial)
• Hungarian: elsőéves (hu), gólya (hu)
• Italian: matricola (it) f
• Japanese: 新入生 (ja) (しんにゅうせい, shinnyūsei), 一年生 (ja) (いちねんせい, ichinensei)
• Kazakh: бірінші курс студенті (bırınşı kurs studentı)
• Korean: 신입생(新入生) (ko) (sinipsaeng), 일학년 (ilhangnyeon) (first-year student)
• Macedonian: бруцош m (brucoš)
• Norwegian: første klasse, førstis ( slang )
• Polish: pierwszak (pl) m
• Portuguese: calouro (pt), caloiro (pt), bicho (pt) m
• Russian: первоку́рсник (ru) m (pervokúrsnik), первоку́рсница (ru) f (pervokúrsnica) (first-year student)
• Slovene: bruc m
• Spanish: novato (es) m, mechón (es) m, cachimbo (es) m
• Swedish: förstaårselev c, recentior (sv) c
• Tagalog: untaunan
• Welsh: glasfyfyriwr m

novice; one in the rudiments of knowledge

• Danish: grønskolling c
• Dutch: beginneling (nl) m
• German: Neuling (de) m
• Polish: nowicjusz (pl) m

See also

• junior
• senior
• sophomore
• upperclassman

Anagrams

• Fehrmans