forgiveness

English

Etymology

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English forġifnes, forġiefnes, forġiefennes (“forgiveness, remission, indulgence, permission”, literally “forgivenness”), equivalent to forgiven +‎ -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɚˈɡɪvnəs/
• IPA^(key): /fəˈɡɪvnəs/
• Hyphenation: for‧give‧ness

Noun

forgiveness (usually uncountable, plural forgivenesses)

1. The action of forgiving.
   • Mahatma Gandhi

     The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

2. Readiness to forgive.

Synonyms

• (action of forgiving): remission
• (readiness to forgive): mercy

Translations

the action of forgiving

• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: مَغْفِرَة f (maḡfira)
• Armenian: ներում (hy) (nerum)
• Aromanian: ljirtari f, ljirtãciuni f
• Belarusian: прабачэ́нне n (prabačénnje)
• Bulgarian: опроще́ние (bg) n (oprošténie), про́шка (bg) f (próška)
• Burmese: ခွင့်လွှတ်ခြင်း (hkwang.hlwathkrang:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 饒恕／饶恕 (zh) (ráoshù), 饶恕 (zh) (ráoshù), 寬恕／宽恕 (zh) (kuānshù), 宽恕 (zh) (kuānshù)

• Czech: odpuštění n
• Danish: tilgivelse (da) c, eftergivelse c
• Dutch: vergeven (nl) n
• Esperanto: pardono
• Finnish: anteeksianto (fi), anteeksi antaminen; anteeksiantamus (religious)
• French: pardon (fr) m
• German: Verzeihung (de) f, Vergebung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄 n (aflēt)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄφεσις f (áphesis)

• Hungarian: megbocsátás (hu)
• Irish: maitheamh m
• Italian: perdono (it)
• Japanese: 容赦 (ようしゃ, yōsha)
• Korean: 용서 (ko) (yongseo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• Latin: venia f, remissio f
• Macedonian: прошка f (proška)
• Malagasy: Famelana
• Manx: maih, maihnys m
• Maori: murunga, murunga hara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilgivelse m

• Polish: wybaczenie (pl) n, przebaczenie (pl) n, odpuszczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: perdão (pt) m
• Romanian: iertare (ro) f, scuză (ro) f, pardon (ro) n
• Russian: проще́ние (ru) n (proščénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опроштење n

  Roman: oproštenje (sh)

• Slovak: odpustenie n
• Slovene: odpuščanje n
• Spanish: perdón (es) m
• Swahili: ghofira
• Swedish: förlåtelse (sv) c
• Ukrainian: проще́ння n (proščénnja), проба́чення n (probáčennja)
• Volapük: pard (vo)

readiness to forgive

• Danish: barmhjertighed c, villighed til at tilgive
• Dutch: vergevingsgezindheid
• Finnish: anteeksiantavaisuus
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Versöhnlichkeit f, Nachsicht (de) f
• Russian: снисходи́тельность (ru) f (snisxodítelʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: misericordia (es) f

References

• “forgiveness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.