from

Alternative forms

• frome (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English from (“from”), from Old English from, fram (“forward, from”), from Proto-West Germanic *fram, from Proto-Germanic *fram (“forward, from, away”). Cognate with Old Saxon fram (“from”) and Old High German fram (“from”), Danish frem (“forth, forward”), Danish fra (“from”), Swedish fram (“forth, forward”), Swedish från (“from”), Norwegian Nynorsk fram (“forward”), Norwegian Nynorsk frå (“from”), Icelandic fram (“forward, on”), Icelandic frá (“from”), Albanian pre, prej. More at fro.

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fɹɒm/
  • (General American, Canada) enPR: frŭm, IPA^(key): /fɹʌm/
• (unstressed) enPR: frəm, IPA^(key): /fɹəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒm, -ʌm

Preposition

from

1. Used to indicate source or provenance.

   Paul is from New Zealand.

   I got a letter from my brother.

   You can't get all your news from the Internet.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. […]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

     Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2. Originating at (a year, time, etc.)

   This manuscript is from the 1980s.

3. Used to indicate a starting point or initial reference.

   He had books piled from floor to ceiling.

   He departed yesterday from Chicago.

   This figure has been changed from a one to a seven.

   Face away from the wall!

   • 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:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

   1. Indicating a starting point in time.

      The working day runs from 9 am to 5 pm.

      Tickets are available from 17th July.

   2. Indicating a starting point on a range or scale.

      Rate your pain from 1 to 10.

      Start counting from 1.

   3. Indicating a starting point on an array or gamut of conceptual variations.

      You can study anything from math to literature.

   4. With reference to the location or position of a speaker or other observer or vantage point.

      It's hard to tell from here.

      Try to see it from his point of view.

      The bomb went off just 100 yards from where they were standing.

      From the top of the lighthouse you can just see the mainland.

   5. (MLE) Indicates a starting state of the predicament of the subject. Synonym of since being

      I’ve been doing this from pickney.

      • 2021 August 17, TStackz & Kapz (lyrics and music), “BGB”‎, 1:01–1:03:

        I’ve been a bad boy from a little youth.

4. Indicating removal or separation.

   After twenty minutes, remove the cake from the oven.

   The general was ousted from power.

   1. (mathematics, chiefly British, not in formal use) Denoting a subtraction operation.

      20 from 31 leaves 11.

5. Indicating exclusion.

   She was barred from entering.

   A parasol protects from the sun.

6. Indicating differentiation.

   Your opinions differ from mine.

   He knows right from wrong.

   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

7. Produced with or out of (a substance or material).

   It's made from pure gold.

8. Used to indicate causation; because of, as a result of.

   Too many people die from breast cancer.

Anagrams

• -form, FORM, MoRF, form, form-

Etymology

From English from.

Preposition

from

1. from
2. Because of; on account of
   • 2008, Miriam Meyerhoff, Social lives in language--sociolinguistics and multilingual speech‎, →ISBN, page 344:

     Bang i wantem mi faen from mi ovaspen.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology

From Middle Low German vrome, from Proto-Germanic *frumô, related to German fromm, Dutch vroom (“pious”). In Old Saxon and Old High German, it is a noun meaning "use, benefit", but later it is used as an adjective.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frɔmˀ/, [ˈfʁ̥ʌmˀ]

Adjective

from (neuter fromt, plural and definite singular attributive fromme)

1. pious, devout (religious in a serious way)

   Antonym: ufrom

2. innocent

Further reading

• “from” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “from” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Pronoun

from (emphatic fromsa)

1. Alternative form of faram (“along with me, beside me; in addition to me; as good as me”)

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “from”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Alternative forms

• fram, vrom, vram
• fro, fra, vra, fray (from Old Norse)

Etymology

From Old English from, fram and Old Norse frá, both from Proto-Germanic *fram.

Preposition

from

1. from

   Synonym: fra

   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 15–16:

     And specially from every shires ende / Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,

     And specially from every shire's end / Of England they to Canterbury went,

References

• “from, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *framaz (“forward, prominent”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“front, forth”).

Cognate with Old High German fruma (German fromm, Yiddish פֿרום (frum)), Middle Dutch vrōme (Dutch vroom), Old Norse framr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /from/

Adjective

from (superlative frommast)

1. bold, firm, resolute

Etymology

From Middle Low German vrome, from Old Saxon fruma, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frumô, related to Dutch vroom (“pious”).

Adjective

from

1. pious, godly, devout, religious

Etymology

From Old Swedish fromber, from Middle Low German vrome, from Old Saxon fruma, from Proto-Germanic *frumô, related to Dutch vroom (“pious”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /frʊm/, [frʊmː]

Adjective

from (comparative frommare, superlative frommast)

1. religious in a quiet and serious way, pious
2. charitable

   en from stiftelse ― a charitable foundation, a charity

References

• from in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• from in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• from in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• from in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• form