Meanings
alternative freq.
- not comparablegrammarServing to express repetition of an action.
"Crackle" is an English frequentative verb derived from "crack".
plural frequentatives · alternative freq.
- grammarAny of a subclass of imperfective verbs that denote a repeated action, no longer productive in English, but found in e.g. Finnish, Latin, Russian, and Turkish.
Synonyms: iterative
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of a subclass of imperfective verbs that denote a repeated action, no longer productive in English, but found in e.g. Finnish, Latin, Russian, and Turkish.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰrekʷ-der.?
- Proto-Italic*frekʷents
- Latinfrequēns
- Latinfrequentāre
- Late Latinfrequentātīvus
- Middle Englishfrequentatyf
- Englishfrequentative
Inherited from Middle English frequentatyf, from Late Latin frequentātīvus, from Latin frequentāre (“to do or use often”), from frequēns (“often, regular, constant, repeated, assiduous”) + -ō. By surface analysis, frequent + -ative.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish frekventatiivinen, frekventatiivi
- frekventatiivinenserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- frekventatiivisubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
French fréquentatif, fréquentatif
- fréquentatifserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- fréquentatifsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
German frequentativ, Frequentativum
- frequentativserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- Frequentativumsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
- Frequentativsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
- Iterativumsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
- Iterativsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Hungarian gyakorító
- gyakorítóserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
Italian frequentativo
- frequentativoserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
Latin frequentātīvus, [verbum] frequentativum
- frequentātīvusserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- [verbum] frequentativumsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Māori kakai
- kakaiserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
Polish częstotliwy, forma częstotliwa
- częstotliwyserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- forma częstotliwasubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Portuguese frequentativo
- frequentativoserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
Russian многокра́тный, многочи́сленный
- многокра́тный (mnogokrátnyj)serving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- многочи́сленный (mnogočíslennyj)serving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- мно́жественный (mnóžestvennyj)serving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- многокра́тный вид (mnogokrátnyj vid)subclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Spanish frecuentativo, frecuentativo
- frecuentativoserving to express the frequent repetition of an action
- frecuentativosubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
- verbo frecuentativosubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Swedish frekventativ
- frekventativsubclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action
Cite this entry
frequentative. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frequentative
“frequentative.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frequentative. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frequentative,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frequentative.
Source: frequentative on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.