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Added 9 October 2026

freelance

/ˈfɹiːlɑːns/ noun

In Latin: none, coined in 1771 Coined: 1771, by Walter Scott Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about freelance at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A writer or artist who sells services to different employers without a long-term contract with any of them.

verb

Work independently and on temporary contracts rather than for a long-term employer.

adjective

Working for yourself.
Serving for wages in a foreign army.
mercenary killers

Origin

From free + lance. Coined by Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe (1819; see quotation) to describe a medieval mercenary warrior or "free-lance" (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord's services). It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was recognized as a verb in 1903 by authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary. In modern times the term has morphed into an adjective, a verb, and an adverb, as well as the derivative noun freelancer.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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