souvent
French
Etymology
From Old French suvent, sovent, from Latin subinde, which consists of sub + inde. The original meaning of subinde was “immediately after”, which then evolved to “repeatedly” and then to “often”.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /su.vɑ̃/
Audio (Paris, France) (file)
Adverb
souvent
- often
- Synonym: fréquemment
- Antonym: rarement
- Hyponyms: à maintes reprises, maintes fois
- Je visite la France trop souvent. ― I visit France too often.
- le plus souvent ― most often; more often than not
- le plus souvent possible, aussi souvent que possible ― as often as possible
- le moins souvent possible, aussi peu souvent que possible ― as infrequently as possible
- Je n'y pense pas très souvent. ― I don't think of it very often.
Descendants
- Haitian Creole: souvan
- Volapük : suvo
References
- Dauzat, Albert; Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse
Further reading
- “souvent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norman
Etymology
From Old French suvent, sovent, from Latin subinde.
Adverb
souvent
- often