cautious

English

Etymology

From cauti(on) +‎ -ous. Compare Latin cautus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːʃəs/
• (Standard Southern British, Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkoːʃəs/
• (US)
  • (without the cot–caught merger) enPR: kôshn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɔʃəs/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: käshn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑʃəs/

    • Audio (US, cot–caught merger):

      (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔʃəs/
• Rhymes: -ɔːʃəs

Adjective

cautious (comparative more cautious, superlative most cautious)

1. Using or exercising caution; careful; tentative

   He took a few cautious steps toward the cave.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cautious

Antonyms

• careless, incautious, neglecting, uncautious

Derived terms

• cautiously
• cautiousness
• hypercautious
• incautious
• overcautious
• supercautious
• ultracautious
• uncautious
• undercautious

Translations

careful — see also careful,‎ circumspect

• Albanian: i kujdesshëm (sq)
• Arabic: وَرِع (wariʕ), حَذِر (ar) (ḥaḏir), مُتَحَوِّط (mutaḥawwiṭ)
• Armenian: զգուշավոր (hy) (zgušavor)
• Azerbaijani: ehtiyatlı
• Bashkir: һаҡ (haq)
• Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny)
• Bengali: সতর্ক (bn) (śotork), সাবধান (bn) (śabodhan)
• Bulgarian: внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen), предпазли́в (bg) (predpazlív)
• Burmese: သတိထား (my) (sa.ti.hta:)
• Catalan: cautelós, caut (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謹慎 / 谨慎 (zh) (jǐnshèn), 慎重 (zh) (shènzhòng)

• Czech: opatrný (cs), obezřetný (cs)
• Danish: varsom (da), forsigtig
• Dutch: voorzichtig (nl)
• Esperanto: singarda
• Estonian: ettevaatlik
• Finnish: varovainen (fi)
• French: prudent (fr)
• Georgian: ფრთხილი (prtxili)
• German: vorsichtig (de), zaghaft (de), behutsam (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs), ἥσυχος (hḗsukhos)

• Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān)
• Hebrew: זָהִיר (zahír)
• Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark)
• Hungarian: óvatos (hu)
• Indonesian: waspada (id)
• Interlingua: caute
• Irish: aireach, faichilleach
• Italian: cauto (it), ritenuto (it), oculato (it)
• Japanese: 慎重な (ja) (しんちょうな, shinchō na)
• Kazakh: сақ (saq), абай (abay)
• Khmer: ប្រយ័ត្ន (km) (prɑyat)
• Korean: 조심스럽다 (ko) (josimseureopda), 신중하다 (ko) (sinjunghada)
• Kyrgyz: сак (ky) (sak)
• Lao: ລະມັດລະວັງ (la mat la wang), ຮອບຄອບ (hǭp khǭp), ຄ່ຽມ (khīam), ລະມັດ (la mat), ລະວັງ (la wang), ລະມັດ (la mat)
• Latin: cautus (la) m
• Latvian: piesardzīgs
• Lithuanian: atsargus (lt), apdairus
• Macedonian: пре́тпазлив (prétpazliv), внима́телен (vnimátelen)
• Māori: mohito, tūpato
• Marathi: सावध (sāvadh)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: болгоомжтой (bolgoomžtoi), хашир (mn) (xašir)

• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: wātsōu

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forsiktig

• Persian: محتاط (fa) (mohtât)
• Polish: ostrożny (pl)
• Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt), cauteloso (pt)
• Romanian: precaut (ro)
• Russian: осторо́жный (ru) (ostoróžnyj), внима́тельный (ru) (vnimátelʹnyj), осмотри́тельный (ru) (osmotrítelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏пре̄зан, бу́дан, па̀жљив

  Latin: ȍprēzan (sh), búdan (sh), pàžljiv (sh)

• Slovak: opatrný, obozretný
• Slovene: previden
• Spanish: cauto (es), cauteloso (es), precavido (es)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv), varsam (sv), varlig (sv), aktsam (sv)
• Tajik: боэҳтиёт (boehtiyot), эҳтиёткор (ehtiyotkor)
• Tatar: сак (tt) (saq)
• Thai: ระวัง (th) (rá-wang), รอบคอบ (th) (rɔ̂ɔp-kɔ̂ɔp), สุขุม (th) (sù-kǔm), ระมัดระวัง (th) (rá-mát-rá-wang)
• Tocharian B: imassu
• Turkish: dikkatli (tr), ihtiyatlı (tr)
• Turkmen: aýawly (tk)
• Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj), оба́чний (obáčnyj)
• Urdu: ساودھان (sāvdhān), سترک (satark), محتاط (muhtāt)
• Uyghur: ئېھتىياتچان (ëhtiyatchan)
• Uzbek: ehtiyotkor (uz)
• Vietnamese: cẩn trọng (vi), cẩn thận (vi)
• Volapük: prüdik (vo)
• Winnebago: hirakikaraxjį
• Yiddish: פֿאָרזיכטיק (forzikhtik)

References

• “cautious”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “cautious”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “cautious”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.