frequency

English

Alternative forms

frequence (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin frequentia, from frequens. English equivalent frequent +‎ -cy.

Pronunciation

enPR: frĕʹkwən-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiːkwənsi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

frequency (countable and uncountable, plural frequencies)

(uncountable or countable) The rate of occurrence of anything; the relationship between incidence and time period.
With growing confidence, the Viking’s raids increased in frequency.

The frequency of bus service has been improved from one every 15 to one every 12 minutes.
(uncountable) The property of occurring often rather than infrequently.
The FAQ addresses questions that come up with some frequency.

The frequency of the visits was what annoyed him.
(countable) The quotient of the number of times $n$ a periodic phenomenon occurs over the time $t$ in which it occurs: $f=n/t$ .
The frequency of the musical note A above middle C is 440 oscillations per second.

The frequency of a wave is its velocity $v$ divided by its wavelength $\lambda$ : $f=v/\lambda$ .

Broadcasting live at a frequency of 98.3 megahertz, we’re your rock alternative!

The frequency for electric power in the Americas is generally 60 Hz rather than 50.
- 1976, James Martin, Telecommunications and the Computer:
  36 MHz transponder providing a pool of 794 reallocatable frequencies.
- 2015, Patrick R. Nicolas, Scala for Machine Learning, page 109:
  In this case, a band-pass filter using a range or window of frequencies is appropriate to isolate the frequency or the group of frequencies that characterize a specific cycle.
A tone, character, mood, or vibe
- 2023 August 31, Frankie de la Cretaz, “Postcard from Camp Gaylore”, in Cosmopolitan‎^[1]:
  And if you haven’t picked up on the gay frequencies in her lyrics, her wig choices, and her possible lesbian salutes? Maybe that’s because they weren’t meant for you. IYKYK.
(statistics) number of times an event occurred in an experiment (absolute frequency)

Synonyms

(rate of occurrence): oftenness; see also Thesaurus:commonness and Thesaurus:frequency
freq

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “rate of occurrence”): period

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

rate of occurrence of anything

Arabic: تَرَدُّد (ar) m (taraddud)
Aragonese: freqüencia f
Armenian: հաճախականություն (hy) (hačaxakanutʻyun)
Azerbaijani: tezlik
Belarusian: частата́ f (častatá), ча́стасць f (částascʹ)
Bulgarian: честота́ (bg) f (čestotá)
Burmese: အကြိမ် (my) (a.krim)
Catalan: freqüència (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 頻率 / 频率 (zh) (pínlǜ), 頻度 / 频度 (zh) (píndù), 次數 / 次数 (zh) (cìshù)
Czech: četnost n, frekvence (cs) f
Danish: hyppighed (da) c
Dutch: frequentie (nl) f
Esperanto: ofto
Faroese: tíðføri n, tíðleiki m, tídd f
Finnish: taajuus (fi), (statistical) frekvenssi (fi)
French: fréquence (fr) f
Galician: frecuencia (gl) f
Georgian: სიხშირე (sixšire)
German: Häufigkeit (de) f, Frequenz (de) f, Regelmäßigkeit (de) f
Greek: συχνότητα (el) f (sychnótita)
Hebrew: תדירות (he) f (tedirút)
Hindi: आवृत्ति (hi) f (āvŕtti)
Hungarian: gyakoriság (hu), ismétlődés (hu)
Icelandic: tíðni (is) f
Indonesian: frekuensi (id)
Italian: frequenza (it) f
Japanese: 頻度 (ja) (ひんど, hindo)
Kazakh: жиілік (jiılık)
Korean: 빈도 (ko) (bindo)
Kyrgyz: жыштык (ky) (jıştık)
Lao: ຄວາມຖີ່ (lo) (khuām thī)
Latin: crēbritās f
Macedonian: че́стота f (čéstota)
Malay: kekerapan (ms), frekuensi (ms)
Maori: auautanga
Marathi: वारंवारता f (vārauvārtā)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hyppighet (no) m or f
Persian: بسامد (fa) (basâmad)
Polish: częstość (pl) f, częstotliwość (pl) f
Portuguese: frequência (pt) f
Romanian: frecvență (ro) f
Russian: частота́ (ru) f (častotá)
Scottish Gaelic: bitheantas m, tricead m
Serbo-Croatian:
Roman: učestalost (sh) f, čestoća f, čestost (sh) f, učestanost
Slovak: frekvencia (sk) f, početnosť f
Slovene: pogostost f
Spanish: frecuencia (es) f
Swedish: frekvens (sv)
Tagalog: dalas
Tajik: басомад (basomad)
Thai: ความถี่ (th) (kwaam-tìi)
Turkish: frekans (tr)
Ukrainian: ча́стість f (částistʹ), частота́ (uk) f (častotá)
Uzbek: tezlik (uz)
Vietnamese: tính thường xuyên
West Frisian: frekwinsje

property of occurring often rather than infrequently

Aragonese: freqüencia f
Armenian: հաճախություն (hy) (hačaxutʻyun)
Belarusian: частата́ f (častatá)
Catalan: freqüència (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 常常 (zh) (chángcháng)
Czech: častost n, frekvence (cs) f
Dutch: regelmaat (nl) m or f
Esperanto: ofteco
Faroese: tíðføri n, tíðleiki m, tídd f
Finnish: yleisyys (fi)
French: fréquence (fr) f
Galician: frecuencia (gl) f
German: Häufigkeit (de) f
Greek: συχνότητα (el) f (sychnótita)
Hungarian: gyakoriság (hu)
Italian: frequenza (it)
Macedonian: че́стота f (čéstota)
Malay: kekerapan (ms)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hyppighet (no) m or f
Polish: częstość (pl) f
Portuguese: frequência (pt) f
Romanian: desime (ro) f, frecvență (ro) f
Scottish Gaelic: bitheantas m, tricead m
Slovak: frekvencia (sk) f, častosť f
Spanish: frecuencia (es) f
Tagalog: dalas
Thai: ความถี่ (th) (kwaam-tìi)
Turkish: frekans (tr)
Ukrainian: частота́ (uk) f (častotá)

The quotient of the number of times a periodic phenomenon occurs over the time in which it occurs

Finnish: taajuus (fi)
Indonesian: frekuensi (id)
Maori: iarere (of radio waves etc.)

number of occurrences divided by time

Arabic: تَرَدُّد (ar) m (taraddud)
Aragonese: freqüencia f
Armenian: հաճախություն (hy) (hačaxutʻyun)
Belarusian: частата́ f (častatá)
Bengali: কম্পাঙ্ক (kompaṅko)
Bulgarian: честота́ (bg) f (čestotá)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: freqüència (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 頻數 / 频数 (zh) (pínshù)
Czech: frekvence (cs) f, kmitočet (cs) m (of radio frequency)
Danish: frekvens n
Dutch: frequentie (nl) f
Esperanto: frekvenco
Faroese: tíðføri n, tíðleiki m, tídd f
Finnish: taajuus (fi)
French: fréquence (fr) f
Galician: frecuencia (gl) f
German: Frequenz (de) f
Greek: συχνότητα (el) f (sychnótita)
Hebrew: תדירות (he) f (tedirút), תדר m (téder) (used for a radio station or a two-way radio device)
Hungarian: frekvencia (hu)
Icelandic: tíðni (is) f
Italian: frequenza (it) f
Japanese: 周波数 (ja) (shūhasū)
Khmer: ប្រេកង់ (preekɑng)
Korean: 진동수 (ko) (jindongsu)
Lao: ຄວາມຖີ່ (lo) (khuām thī)
Latvian: frekvence (lv) f
Macedonian: че́стота f (čéstota), фрекве́нција f (frekvéncija)
Malay: frekuensi (ms)
Norwegian: frekvens (no) m
Persian: فرکانس (fa) (ferekâns)
Polish: częstotliwość (pl) f
Portuguese: frequência (pt) f
Romanian: frecvență (ro) f
Russian: частота́ (ru) f (častotá)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: фреквѐнција f

Roman: frekvèncija (sh) f
Slovak: frekvencia (sk) f, kmitočet (sk) m
Slovene: frekvenca (sl) f, pogostost f
Spanish: frecuencia (es) f
Swedish: frekvens (sv)
Tagalog: dalas
Thai: ความถี่ (th) (kwaam-tìi)
Turkish: frekans (tr)
Ukrainian: частота́ (uk) f (častotá)
Uzbek: chastota (uz)
Vietnamese: tần số (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Latin: ^{(please verify)} frequentia f
Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} dažnumas
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} frecuencia (es)
Tamil: ^{(please verify)} அதிர்வெண் (ta) (atirveṇ)
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} పౌనఃపున్యము (te) (paunaḥpunyamu)
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} frekans (tr)

Anagrams

quefrency