pious

English

Etymology

From Latin pīus (“pious, dutiful, blessed, kind, devout”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”). More at feal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈpaɪəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəs

Adjective

pious (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to piety, exhibiting piety, devout, godfearing.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used pejoratively, in the sense of "mistaken" or "false" piety, as in "pious errors", "pious frauds".

Synonyms

• reverent, reverential, dutiful, religious, devout, godly

Antonyms

• (of or pertaining to piety): impious, independent, profane

Derived terms

• piously
• piousness

Related terms

• piety

Translations

of or pertaining to piety

• Arabic: صالح (ar) (SaaliH), ورع (ar) (wári3), متدين (ar) (mutadayyin)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 敬虔 (cmn) (jìngqián), 虔誠 (cmn), 虔诚 (cmn) (qiánchéng)

• Czech: zbožný (cs)
• Dutch: vroom (nl)
• Esperanto: pia (eo)
• Finnish: hurskas (fi), harras (fi), jumalinen (fi)
• French: pieux (fr)
• German: fromm (de)
• Greek: ευσεβής (el) (efsevís) m and f
• Japanese: 敬虔な (ja) (けいけいんな, keiken-na), 信心深い (ja) (しんじんぶかい, shinjin-bukai)

• Jèrriais: pieux
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: په‌رستش

• Latin: pius (la) m
• Malay: salih (ms), warak (ms), alim (ms)
• Polish: pobożny (pl)
• Russian: набожный (ru) (nábožnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach (gd)
• Spanish: piadoso (es) m
• Swedish: from (sv), pietistisk (sv), pietetsfull (sv), andaktsfull (sv), vördsam (sv)

practiced under the pretext of religion

• Finnish: tekopyhä (fi)
• Japanese: (phrase) 信心の名を借りた (ja) (shinjin no na wo karita), 宗教にかこつけた (ja) (shūkyō ni kakotsuketa); (hypocritical) 偽善的な (ja) (gizen-teki na)

• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: pobožan (sh)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: pio
• Old English: hāliġ
• Spanish: piadoso, piadosa
• Yiddish: פרום (frum)