irenic

English

WOTD – 21 September 2023

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εἰρηνικός (eirēnikós, “characterized by peace, peaceful”) + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Εἰρηνικός (Eirēnikós) is derived from εἰρήνη (eirḗnē, “peace”) (possibly from εἴρω (eírō, “to fasten together”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“(verb) to bind, tie together; (noun) thread”)), or εἴρω (eírō, “to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”))) + -ῐκός (-ikós, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /aɪˈɹiːnɪk/, /-ˈɹɛ-/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /aɪˈɹinɪk/, /-ˈɹɛ-/
• Rhymes: -iːnɪk, -ɛnɪk
• Hyphenation: iren‧ic

Adjective

irenic (comparative more irenic, superlative most irenic)

1. (chiefly theology) Promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes; conciliatory, non-confrontational, peaceful.

   Synonyms: irenical, nonpolemic, nonpolemical, pacific

   Antonyms: contentious, disputatious, polemic, polemical, unirenic; see also Thesaurus:quarrelsome

   • 2001 November 30, Hywel Williams, “God the state-builder”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-05-06:

     The idea that the Jews of the region are not genetically distinct from other peoples of the area should be an irenic insight.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, “An Enlightening Age”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 199:

     The philosophes contrasted their own irenic calls for tolerance with the church's historical record as the perennial source of cruelty and fanaticism.

   • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 343:

     The current comity between the United States and China, which have little in common except a river of manufactured goods in one direction and dollars in the other, is a recent reminder of the irenic effects of trade.

Alternative forms

• eirenic

Derived terms

• irenical
• irenically
• irenicism
• irenics
• unirenic

 

Related terms

• eirenarch
• eirenical
• eirenicon
• irenarch
• Irene
• irenicon
• irenology

 

Translations

promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory

• Bulgarian: миротворен (bg) (mirotvoren)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 和平的 (hépíngde)

• Dutch: irenisch (nl), vredelievend (nl)
• French: irénique (fr) m or f
• Italian: irenico (it) m
• Macedonian: миро́творен (mirótvoren)
• Spanish: irénico
• Welsh: heddychol

Further reading

• peace on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “irenic”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ricine