freshman
Pluralfreshmen
- 1A person in the first year of an institution, especially a high school, a university, or a legislative body.
She made the varsity soccer team as a freshman, which surprised the older players.
Several freshmen in Congress pushed back against the party leadership on the budget vote.
Similarfirst-year, fresher
Oppositesenior
Note
A school, campus and legislature word of the US, Canada and the Philippines, though it was already at home in Cambridge when Thomas Nashe wrote of being "but yet a freshman in Cambridge" in 1596. The grade it names shifts by country: ninth grade in the US and Canada, seventh in the Philippines. Built from fresh + man, it covers students of either sex, and its plural is freshmen.
- 2A novice; someone who has only the rudiments of knowledge in a subject.
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.
1619, James Howell, The Familiar Letters of James HowellNote
The beginner's sense, now obsolete, a wider cousin of the first-year student. James Howell, writing in 1619, calls himself "but a Freshman yet in France," meaning he is new to a country, not to a college. Modern English has let this use go. For a newcomer outside a school or legislature, say novice or beginner, and keep freshman for its institutional meaning.
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Origin
Formed from the combination of "fresh" and "man."