polite

English

Etymology

From Latin politus (“polished”), past participle of polire (“to polish”); see polish.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pəˈlaɪt/, X-SAMPA: /p@"laIt/

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Adjective

polite (comparative politer or more polite, superlative politest or most polite)

1. Well-mannered, civilized.
2. (obsolete) Smooth, polished, burnished.

Usage notes

• The one-word comparative form politer and superlative form politest exist, but are less common than their two-word counterparts more polite and most polite.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:polite

Antonyms

• impolite
• rude

Derived terms

• over-polite
• politeness

Related terms

• polish

Translations

well-mannered

• Afrikaans: beleefd (af)
• Arabic: مؤدب (ar) (muʾáddab), مهذب (ar) (muháḏḏab)
• Armenian: քաղաքավարի (hy) (kʿałakʿavari)
• Azeri: nəzakətli (az)
• Belarusian: ветлівы (be) (vétlivy)
• Bulgarian: учтив (bg) (učtív)
• Catalan: cortès (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有禮貌 (cmn), 有礼貌 (cmn) (yǒulǐmào), 客氣 (cmn), 客气 (cmn) (kèqi)

• Czech: zdvořilý (cs), slušný (cs)
• Danish: høflig (da)
• Dutch: beleefd (nl)
• Esperanto: ĝentila (eo)
• Estonian: viisakas (et)
• Finnish: kohtelias (fi)
• French: poli (fr)
• Georgian: თავაზიანი (ka) (t’avaziani)
• German: höflich (de)
• Greek: ευγενικός (el) (evyenikós)
• Hebrew: מנומס (he) (m'numás)
• Hindi: सभ्य (hi) (sabhya)
• Hungarian: udvarias (hu)
• Icelandic: kurteis (is)
• Indonesian: sopan (id)
• Italian: cortese (it), educato (it) m
• Japanese: 丁寧 (ja) (ていねい, teinei), 礼儀正しい (ja) (れいぎただしい, reigitadashii)

• Jèrriais: poli
• Khmer: ចេះគួរសម (km) (cheh kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ), គួរសម (km) (kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ)
• Korean: 공손한 (ko) (gongson-han)
• Lao: ສຸພາບ (lo) (su-phaap)
• Latvian: pieklājīgs (lv) m, pieklājīga (lv) f
• Lithuanian: mandagus (lt) m, mandagi (lt) f
• Macedonian: учтив (mk) (účtiv) m
• Malay: sopan (ms)
• Norwegian: høflig (no)
• Persian: مؤدب (fa) (mo'addab)
• Polish: uprzejmy (pl), grzeczny (pl)
• Portuguese: polido (pt), cortês (pt), educado (pt)
• Romanian: politico (ro)
• Russian: вежливый (ru) (véžlivyj), учтивый (ru) (učtívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: modhail, suairc, cùirteil
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: учтив (sh), уљудан (sh), одгојен (sh)

  Roman: učtiv (sh), uljudan (sh), odgojen (sh)

• Slovak: zdvorilý (sk), slušný (sk)
• Slovene: vljuden (sl)
• Spanish: cortés (es), educado (es)
• Swedish: hövlig (sv), artig (sv)
• Thai: สุภาพ (th) (sùpâap)
• Turkish: kibar (tr), nazik (tr)
• Ukrainian: ввічливий (uk) (vvíčlyvyj), чемний (uk) (čémnyj)
• Vietnamese: lịch sự (vi), lể phép (vi)

Verb

polite (third-person singular simple present polites, present participle politing, simple past and past participle polited)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To polish; to refine; to render polite.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ray to this entry?)

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989

External links

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

Anagrams

• piolet

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Italian

Adjective

polite f pl

1. feminine plural of polito

Anagrams

• pilote

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Latin

Verb

polīte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of poliō