sporadique

Sporadique is a French adjective meaning occurring at irregular intervals or in scattered, isolated instances. It is used to describe phenomena that do not follow a regular pattern, schedule, or concentration, and can apply to events in daily life as well as to scientific observations.

The word derives from Latin sporadicus, through Greek sporadikós, from a root related to spora or spora meaning seed, hence "scattered" or "dispersed." In modern French, sporadique typically appears before masculine nouns (e.g., des cas sporadiques, des épisodes sporadiques) and with adjectives or nouns denoting infrequent or irregular occurrences.

In medicine and epidemiology, sporadique designates cases that arise singly or in small numbers without a known connection to an outbreak or familial pattern. It is often contrasted with terms such as endémique (endemic) or épidémique (epidemic). Outside health contexts, sporadique describes irregular patterns in weather, research results, or social phenomena, indicating a lack of consistent repetition. The English cognate sporadic shares the same sense of irregular, dispersed occurrence.