docile

English

WOTD – 31 July 2006, 11 February 2007

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-der.

Proto-Italic *dokeō

Latin doceō

Proto-Indo-European *-elis

Proto-Italic *-elis

Latin -ilis

Latin docilisder.

Middle French docilebor.

Middle English docyle

English docile

From Middle English docyle, from Middle French docile, from Latin docilis, from docēre (“teach”). Compare Spanish dócil ("docile").

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdəʊ.saɪl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑ.səl/, /ˈdɑ.saɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (US) -ɑːsəl

Adjective

docile (comparative more docile, superlative most docile)

1. Ready to accept instruction or direction; obedient; subservient.

   Synonyms: amenable, compliant, teachable; see also Thesaurus:obedient

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     With that he dropped his head again, lamenting over and caressing her, and there was not a sound in all the house for a long, long time; they remaining clasped in one another’s arms, in the glorious sunshine that had crept in with Florence.
     He dressed himself for going out, with a docile submission to her entreaty; and walking with a feeble gait, and looking back, with a tremble, at the room in which he had been so long shut up, and where he had seen the picture in the glass, passed out with her into the hall.

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

     Harriet certainly was not clever, but she had a sweet, docile, grateful disposition; was totally free from conceit; and only desiring to be guided by any one she looked up to.

2. Yielding to control or supervision, direction, or management.

   Synonyms: compliant, malleable, meek, submissive, tractable, manageable; see also Thesaurus:docile

   Antonyms: perverse, defiant, rebellious, wilful

   Such literature may well be anathema to those, who are too docile and petty for their own good.

Derived terms

• docilely
• docileness
• docility
• docilization
• docilize
• nondocile
• undocile

Related terms

• docent
• doctor
• doctorate
• doctrinaire
• doctrinal
• doctrine
• document
• indoctrinate

Translations

yielding to control

• Bulgarian: податлив (bg) (podatliv), послушен (bg) (poslušen)
• Catalan: dòcil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 溫順嘅 / 温顺嘅 (wan¹ seon⁶ ge³)

• Crimean Tatar: yuvaş
• Czech: poslušný (cs) m, poddajný (cs) m, povolný (cs), krotký
• Danish: føjelig
• Dutch: volgzaam (nl)
• Finnish: säyseä (fi), alistuva (fi), kuulias, tottelevainen (fi)
• French: docile (fr)
• Galician: dócil (gl), manso
• German: fügsam (de), gefügig (de), steuerbar (de), handhabbar (de), sanftmütig, gutmütig (de), unterwürfig
• Greek: πειθήνιος (el) (peithínios), υπάκουος (el) (ypákouos)

  Ancient Greek: κτίλος (ktílos)

• Hungarian: kezelhető (hu)
• Italian: docile (it), mansueto (it)
• Japanese: 従順な (ja) (jūjun na), おとなしい (ja) (otonashii)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sernerm (ku)

• Māori: kōratarata, kōtungatunga
• Norwegian: medgjørlig
• Occitan: docil (oc)
• Plautdietsch: ontlich
• Polish: potulny (pl), uległy (pl)
• Portuguese: dócil (pt)
• Romanian: docil (ro)
• Russian: покорный (ru) (pokornyj), послу́шный (ru) (poslúšnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: soirbh, sèimh
• Serbo-Croatian: pokoran (sh) m, poslušan (sh)
• Spanish: dócil (es)
• Swedish: foglig (sv)
• Turkish: yumuşak başlı (tr), uysal (tr)

accepting instructions

• Bulgarian: схватлив (bg) (shvatliv), възприемчив (bg) (vǎzpriemčiv)
• Catalan: dòcil (ca)
• Czech: poslušný (cs)
• Danish: føjelig c, lydig
• Finnish: tottelevainen (fi), kuulias
• German: fügsam (de), gefügig (de), gehorsam (de), folgsam (de), gelehrig (de)
• Hungarian: irányítható (hu)
• Italian: obbediente (it)
• Polish: pojętny (pl) m
• Russian: поня́тливый (ru) (ponjátlivyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: poslušan (sh) m, poučljiv (sh)
• Spanish: dócil (es)
• Swedish: lydig (sv), foglig (sv)
• Turkish: uysal (tr), uslu (tr)

Anagrams

• cleido-, coiled, coldie

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin docilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ.sil/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -il

Adjective

docile (plural dociles)

1. docile

   Near-synonym: obéissant

Derived terms

• docilement
• docilité

Further reading

• “docile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Etymology

From Latin docilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.t͡ʃi.le/
• Rhymes: -ɔtʃile
• Hyphenation: dò‧ci‧le

Adjective

docile m or f by sense (plural docili)

1. compliant, obedient, docile, meek

   Antonym: indocile

Derived terms

• docilità
• docilmente

Further reading

• docile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

docile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of docilis