英和和英

語源

From late 中期英語 seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from 古期英語 seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian Bokmål sjelden, Norwegian Nynorsk sjeldan, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.

発音

• IPA: /ˈsɛldəm/
• 韻: -ɛldəm

副詞

seldom (comparative more seldom or seldomer, superlative most seldom or seldomest)

1. Infrequently, rarely.

   Synonyms: barely, hardly, rarely, scarcely, infrequently, seldomly; see also Thesaurus:rarely

   Antonyms: often, frequently; see also Thesaurus:often

   They seldom come here now.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 21:

     But one thing I was perfectly certain about. Reality or nightmare, I needed a drink as I had seldom needed one before.

   • 1984, 20:05 from the start, in Dune‎ (Science Fiction), →OCLC:

     I'll miss the sea. But a person needs new experiences. They draw something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

   • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎:

     People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days?

   • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:

     Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.

使用する際の注意点

• It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. Compare he seldom ever plays tennis with he almost never plays tennis.
• The form seldomly, derived from the (now archaic) adjectival use, exists, but has not gained widespread acceptance.

派生語

• barking dogs seldom bite, a barking dog seldom bites
• opportunity seldom knocks twice
• seldom or ever
• seldomtimes
• unseldom

形容詞

seldom (comparative more seldom or seldomer, superlative most seldom or seldomest)

1. (archaic) Rare; infrequent.

   Synonyms: geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

     a suppressed and seldom anger

   • 1850, Vignaud Pamphlets: Sir Isaac Newton, page 513:

     He was very curious in his garden, which was never out of order; in which he would at seldom times take a short walk or two, not enduring to see a weed in it.

派生語

• seldomly
• seldomness

関連する語

• seld

アナグラム

• lesdom, models, somdel

副詞

seldom

1. alternative form of selden (“seldom”)

語源 2

From 古期英語 selden.

形容詞

seldom

1. alternative form of selden (“uncommon”)