humility

English

Etymology

From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas (“lowness, meanness, baseness, in Late Latin humility”), from humilis (“low, lowly, humble, earth”). Equivalent to humble +‎ -ity, with /mb/ reduced to /m/ (compare plumbing). Displaced native Old English ēaþmōdnes. Doublet of omertà.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

humility (usually uncountable, plural humilities)

1. The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.
   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 193:

     She had established a character for humility, discretion, noiselessness and religion which Mrs. Piper greatly regretted losing.

Usage notes

• Commonly used to mean “modesty, lack of pride” (with respect to one’s achievements), and in formal religious contexts to refer to a transcendent egolessness.

Synonyms

• egolessness, humilitude, meekness, modesty, self-effacement

Antonyms

• pride

Related terms

• humble
• humiliate
• humiliation
• humus

Translations

characteristic of being humble

• Albanian: vutësi f
• Arabic: تَوَاضُع (ar) m (tawāḍuʕ)
• Azerbaijani: təvazö
• Belarusian: пако́рлівасць f (pakórlivascʹ), пако́рнасць f (pakórnascʹ), скро́мнасць f (skrómnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: смире́ност f (smirénost), поко́рност (bg) f (pokórnost), смире́ние (bg) n (smirénie), скро́мност (bg) f (skrómnost)
• Catalan: humilitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謙卑 / 谦卑 (zh) (qiānbēi), 謙遜 / 谦逊 (zh) (qiānxùn)

• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: unyenyekevu class 11

• Czech: pokora (cs) f, skromnost (cs) f
• Danish: ydmyghed c
• Dutch: nederigheid (nl) f, deemoed (nl) m
• Esperanto: humileco
• Finnish: nöyryys (fi)
• French: humilité (fr) f
• Galician: humildade (gl) f
• Georgian: თავმდაბლობა (tavmdabloba), მოკრძალებულობა (moḳrʒalebuloba)
• German: Bescheidenheit (de) f, Demut (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌽𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (hauniþa), 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (hauneins)
• Greek: ταπεινότητα (el) f (tapeinótita)

  Ancient Greek: ταπεινότης f (tapeinótēs), ταπεινοφροσύνη f (tapeinophrosúnē)

• Hebrew: צְנִיעוּת (he) f (tsniút), ענווה (he) f (anavá)
• Hindi: विनम्रता (hi) f (vinamratā)
• Hungarian: alázat (hu)
• Icelandic: hógværð (is) f, auðmýkt (is) f
• Indonesian: kerendahhatian, kerendahan hati
• Irish: uirísle f, umhlaíocht f
• Italian: umiltà (it) f
• Japanese: 謙遜 (ja) (けんそん, kenson)
• Korean: 겸손 (ko) (gyeomson)
• Macedonian: скромност f (skromnost)
• Malayalam: വിനയം (ml) (vinayaṁ)
• Māori: māhaki, māhakitanga
• Navajo: tʼahʼágo ájítʼé
• Nepali: विनम्रता (vinamratā), नम्रता (namratā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ydmykhet (no) m or f

• Occitan: umilitat (oc) f

  Old Occitan: umilitat

• Old English: ēaþmōdnes f
• Persian: تواضع (fa) (tavâzo')
• Polish: pokora (pl) f
• Portuguese: humildade (pt) f
• Romanian: umilință (ro) f, umilitate f
• Russian: скро́мность (ru) f (skrómnostʹ), смире́ние (ru) f (smirénije), поко́рность (ru) f (pokórnostʹ), смире́нность (ru) f (smirénnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: poniznost (sh) f, skromnost (sh) f, smernost (sh) f, skrušenost (sh) f

• Slovak: pokora f, skromnosť f
• Slovene: ponižnost f
• Spanish: humildad (es)
• Swedish: ödmjukhet (sv) c
• Telugu: ఒద్దిక (te) (oddika)
• Thai: ความถ่อมตัว, ความนอบน้อม
• Turkish: tevazu (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: تواضع

• Ukrainian: покі́рність f (pokírnistʹ), покі́рливість f (pokírlyvistʹ), смире́нність f (smyrénnistʹ), скро́мність f (skrómnistʹ)
• Volapük: mük (vo)
• Yiddish: שפֿלות f (shifles)

Further reading

• “humility”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.