forgive

English

Etymology

Middle English forgiven (“to forgive”), from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, give up, provide”), corresponding to for- +‎ give. Cognate with Dutch vergeven, German vergeben.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fər-gĭv', fôr-gĭv', IPA: /fə(r)ˈɡɪv/, /fɔː(r)ˈɡɪv/, X-SAMPA: /f@(r)"gIv/, /fO:(r)"gIv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪv

Verb

forgive (third-person singular simple present forgives, present participle forgiving, simple past forgave, past participle forgiven)

1. (transitive) To pardon, to waive any negative feeling or desire for punishment.

   Only the brave know how to forgive...A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature. - Laurence Sterne

2. (intransitive) To accord forgiveness.

Translations

transitive, to pardon

• Arabic: سامح (ar) (saamaHa)
• Aromanian: ljert (rup)
• Catalan: perdonar
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原諒 (cmn), 原谅 (cmn) (yuánliàng)

• Chinese Characters: 諒, 谅
• Czech: odpustit (cs)
• Dutch: vergeven (nl)
• Esperanto: pardoni (eo)
• Finnish: antaa anteeksi (fi)
• French: pardonner (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: vergeben (1,2)
• Hungarian: megbocsát (hu)
• Icelandic: fyrirgefa (is)
• Indonesian: memaafkan (id), mengampuni (id)
• Italian: perdonare (it)
• Japanese: 許す (ja) (ゆるす, yurusu)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: لێخۆشبوون (ku) (lé xoshbún)

• Latin: condōnō (la), dōnō (la), īgnōscō (la), iustificō (la), redōnō (la)
• Lithuanian: atleisti (lt), dovanoti (lt)
• Luxembourgish: verzeien (lb), verginn (lb)
• Macedonian: простува (mk) (próstuva), опростува (mk) (opróstuva), проштава (mk) (próštava)
• Norwegian: tilgi (no), forlate (no)
• Old English: ālǣtan, forġiefan
• Old Portuguese: perdõar
• Old Provençal: perdonar
• Portuguese: perdoar (pt), desculpar (pt)
• Romanian: ierta (ro)
• Russian: (imperfective) прощать (ru) (proščát'), (perfective) простить (ru) (prostít')
• Scottish Gaelic: math (gd)
• Spanish: perdonar (es)
• Swedish: förlåta (sv)
• Turkish: affetmek (tr), bağışlamak (tr)
• Volapük: pardön (vo)
• West Frisian: ferjou (fy)

References

• forgive in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• forgive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913