gentil

See also: Gentil

French

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒɑ̃.ti/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

gentil (feminine singular gentille, masculine plural gentils, feminine plural gentilles)

1. helpful, kind
2. pleasant, amiable, nice
3. attractive, pretty; also derogative, in the sense of superficial, esp. in the arts
4. (idiomatic) all very well (c'est bien gentil tout ça, mais "that's all very well, but")
5. well behaved, good (especially but not only about children, in the sense of good boy/girl)
6. fairly large, nice, tidy

Usage notes

• 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

• aimable

Noun

gentil m (plural gentils)

1. pagan, heretic
2. gentile

Related terms

• genre
• gens
• gentilhomme
• gentillesse
• gentiment

Further reading

• “gentil” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Adjective

gentil m

1. Apocopic form of gentile

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Adjective

gentil m (oblique and nominative feminine singular gentil or gentile)

1. noble; courteous; courtly

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese gentil, from Latin gentīlis (“belonging to the same family”), from gēns (“clan; tribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒẽ.ˈt͡ʃiw/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒẽ.ˈtɨɫ/
  • Homophone: gentio
• Homophone: Gentil
• Hyphenation: gen‧til

Adjective

gentil m, f (plural gentis, comparable)

1. gentle; amiable; kind
2. elegant
3. gentle; polite; respectful

Synonyms

• (amiable): agradável, amigável, amistoso, cortês
• (elegant): belo, elegante, formoso, garboso
• (polite): See Thesaurus:cortês

Antonyms

• (amiable): desagradável, descortês
• (elegant): desagradável, deselegante, feio
• (polite): See Thesaurus:cortês

Related terms

• gentileza
• gentílico

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Adjective

gentil (plural gentiles) (superlative gentilísimo)

1. kind, nice

Related terms

• gentileza

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• /ɧaŋˈtiːl/

Adjective

gentil

1. (somewhat archaic) elegant and generous; posh, stylish; generous

   Det var en utomordentligt gentil middagsbjudning.

   "That was a most elegant dinner party."

Inflection

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.