gentil
See also: Gentil
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
gentil (feminine singular gentille, masculine plural gentils, feminine plural gentilles)
- helpful, kind
- pleasant, amiable, nice
- attractive, pretty; also derogative, in the sense of superficial, esp. in the arts
- (idiomatic) all very well (c'est bien gentil tout ça, mais "that's all very well, but")
- well behaved, good (especially but not only about children, in the sense of good boy/girl)
- fairly large, nice, tidy
Usage notes[edit]
- The word is sometimes used in derogative senses similar to the way its English equivalents are (e.g. about people considered to be lacking personality), but its positive use is much more common. In classical French it was used as a genuine compliment for social graces, which gave rise to gentilhomme (“gentleman”).
Synonyms[edit]
Noun[edit]
gentil m (plural gentils)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “gentil” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Italian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
gentil m
Old French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).
Adjective[edit]
gentil m (oblique and nominative feminine singular gentil or gentile)
Portuguese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Portuguese gentil, from Latin gentīlis (“belonging to the same family”), from gēns (“clan; tribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʒẽ.ˈt͡ʃiw/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ʒẽ.ˈtɨɫ/
- Homophone: gentio
- Homophone: Gentil
- Hyphenation: gen‧til
Adjective[edit]
gentil m, f (plural gentis, comparable)
Synonyms[edit]
- (amiable): agradável, amigável, amistoso, cortês
- (elegant): belo, elegante, formoso, garboso
- (polite): See Thesaurus:cortês
Antonyms[edit]
- (amiable): desagradável, descortês
- (elegant): desagradável, deselegante, feio
- (polite): See Thesaurus:cortês
Related terms[edit]
Spanish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).
Adjective[edit]
gentil (plural gentiles)
Related terms[edit]
Swedish[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- /ɧaŋˈtiːl/
Adjective[edit]
gentil
- (somewhat archaic) elegant and generous; posh, stylish; generous
- Det var en utomordentligt gentil middagsbjudning.
- "That was a most elegant dinner party."
Inflection[edit]
Inflection of gentil | |||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
Common singular | gentil | gentilare | gentilast |
Neuter singular | gentilt | gentilare | gentilast |
Plural | gentila | gentilare | gentilast |
Definite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
Masculine singular1 | gentile | gentilare | gentilaste |
All | gentila | gentilare | gentilaste |
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. |
Categories:
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French idioms
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- Italian lemmas
- Italian adjectives
- Italian apocopic forms
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French adjectives
- Portuguese terms derived from Old Portuguese
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese terms with homophones
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese adjectives
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish adjectives
- Swedish terms with archaic senses