🧑‍🎓 A new student 🌱 A newcomer 🎓 For first-year students

frosh

2 8.0

A first-year student at high school or college

noun
/frɔʃ/

Informal

: novato

Yeah, as a frosh senator, she got on the Armed Services Committee.
frosh-soph
frosh team

Examples

During orientation, the frosh were excited to make new friends and explore the campus.
He's not going to wow anyone as a frosh.

Blog text (15)
She ended up with a 34.925, good for a tie for 25th, pretty good for a frosh.

Blog text (23)
Starting three frosh feels a little like Michigan's Fab Five, the hype, at times, exceeding the results.

Blog text (27)
Can the frosh (Brett Hundley) show up the senior (Matt Barkley)?

Blog text (30)
Nathaniel Rose (Eagle Academy) - A fab frosh last season, Rose wasted no time making himself a name to know on the NYC wrestling scene, winning the DII sectional title right out of the gate.

Blog text (3)
As a frosh, she felt a mix of excitement and nervousness on the first day of college.
The frosh were given a tour of the campus to help them get acclimated to their new environment.

Synonyms

freshman

vsfrosh

202 2.3

A student in their first year at high school or university

is the informal North American word for the same student group

first-year

vsfrosh

170 3.0

A person who started school, college, or a job this year

is an informal North American student label rather than a broad beginner descriptor

fresher

vsfrosh

27 5.5

A student in their first year at a university or college

is a casual North American label not the British university form

Surface Forms

frosh singular

froshes plural

Morphology

frosh = freshman (semi-transparent) = fresh + man

Frosh is a clipped informal form of freshman, so the connection to first-year students is recognizable even though the form is shortened irregularly.

Etymology

Frosh is an informal short form of freshman and comes from fresh meaning 'new', so a frosh is a new student, often used in North America.