civilise

See also: civilisé

English

Alternative forms

• civilize (American and Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

From civil + -ise.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪvɪlaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: civ‧il‧ise

Verb

civilise (third-person singular simple present civilises, present participle civilising, simple past and past participle civilised) (non-Oxford British spelling)

1. To educate or enlighten a person or people to a perceived higher standard of behaviour.
2. To introduce or impose the standards of one civilisation upon another civilization, group or person, arguably with the intent of achieving a perceived higher standard of behavior.
3. To bring from a state of savagery to an educated or refined state.

Derived terms

• decivilise
• uncivilise

Related terms

• citizen
• city
• civil
• civilian
• civilisation, civilization
• civitas

Translations

to educate to a perceived higher standard of behaviour

• Armenian: քաղաքակրթել (hy) (kʻaġakʻakrtʻel)
• Belarusian: цывілізава́ць impf or pf (cyvilizavácʹ)
• Bulgarian: цивилизовам (bg) (civilizovam)
• Danish: civilisere
• Dutch: civiliseren (nl), beschaven (nl)
• Esperanto: civilizi
• Estonian: tsiviliseerima
• Finnish: sivistää (fi)
• French: civiliser (fr)
• German: zivilisieren (de)
• Hungarian: civilizál (hu)
• Italian: incivilire, civilizzare (it)
• Manx: ardveeinee, beasee
• Polish: cywilizować (pl) impf, ucywilizować pf
• Romanian: civiliza (ro)
• Russian: цивилизова́ть (ru) impf or pf (civilizovátʹ)
• Spanish: civilizar (es), desasnar (es) (colloquial), culturizar (es)
• Swedish: civilisera (sv)
• Ukrainian: цивілізува́ти (uk) impf or pf (cyvilizuváty)
• Vietnamese: giáo hóa (vi), khai hóa (vi), truyền bá văn minh

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مَصَّرَ (ar) (maṣṣara)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} civilizi
• French: ^{(please verify)} civiliser (fr)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} siða
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} incivilire, ^{(please verify)} ingentilire (it), ^{(please verify)} civilizzare (it), ^{(please verify)} umanizzare
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 教化する (kyōka suru)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} khai hóa (vi), ^{(please verify)} khai hoá (vi)

French

Verb

civilise

1. inflection of civiliser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative