seldom

Etymology

From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian sjelden, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.

adv

1. Infrequently, rarely.
   They seldom come here now.
   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? April 9, 2013, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times
   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. 2013-06-01, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71

adj

1. (archaic) Rare; infrequent.
   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. 1850, Vignaud Pamphlets: Sir Isaac Newton, page 513