nonchalant

English

WOTD – 10 March 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from French nonchalant, from Old French nonchaloir (“to be unconcerned”), from non- (“not”) +‎ chaloir (“to have concern for”), from Latin non (“not”) +‎ calēre (“to be warm”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒn.ʃəl.ənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌnɑn.ʃəˈlɑnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

nonchalant (comparative more nonchalant, superlative most nonchalant)

1. Casually calm and relaxed.

   We handled the whole frenetic situation with a nonchalant attitude.

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:

     On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.

   • 2010, Mary Roach, “You Go First: The Alarming Prospect of Life Without Gravity”, in Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 90:

     […] The Mexican government's response to the American bombing was admirably laid back. General Enrique Diaz Gonzales and Consul General Raul Michel met with United States officials, who issued apologies and an invitation to come to "the next rocket shoot" at White Sands. The Mexican citizenry was similarly nonchalant. "Bomb Blast Fails to Halt Spring Fiesta," said the El Paso Times headline, noting that "many thought the explosion was a cannon fired for the opening of the fiesta."

   • 2025 March 29, George Ramsay and Patrick Snell, “Aged 15, New Zealander Sam Ruthe has already run a four-minute mile. He would ‘love to try and qualify’ for the 2028 Olympics”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Undaunted by the occasion, Ruthe went on to become the first 15-year-old to run a sub-four-minute mile, even managing a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders as he crossed the finish line.

2. Indifferent; unconcerned; behaving as if detached.

   He is far too nonchalant about such a serious matter.

Synonyms

• (casually calm): carefree, cool, mellow, easygoing; see also Thesaurus:calm or Thesaurus:carefree
• (indifferent): blasé, unconcerned; see also Thesaurus:apathetic

Antonyms

• careful
• attentive
• concerned
• chalant

Derived terms

• nonchalantism
• nonchalantly
• nonchalantness

Related terms

• nonchalance

Translations

casually calm and relaxed

• Armenian: անհոգ (hy) (anhog)
• Bulgarian: безгрижен (bg) (bezgrižen)
• Catalan: despreocupat
• Czech: nonšalantní (cs), nenucený
• Danish: nonchalant, skødesløs, ligegyldig
• Dutch: nonchalant (nl)
• Esperanto: facilanima
• Finnish: huoleton (fi)
• French: décontracté (fr)
• Galician: despreocupado
• German: nonchalant (de), lässig (de)
• Hungarian: fesztelen (hu), lezser (hu)
• Irish: neamhchúiseach, neamhchorrbhuaiseach
• Polish: swobodny (pl), wyluzowany, luzacki (pl)
• Portuguese: descontraído (pt)
• Russian: невозмути́мый (ru) (nevozmutímyj), беспе́чный (ru) (bespéčnyj), небре́жный (ru) (nebréžnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun chùram
• Spanish: casual (es), relajado (es)
• Turkish: keyifli (tr), keyfi yerinde (tr)
• Ukrainian: безтурбо́тний (uk) (bezturbótnyj)

indifferent; unconcerned; behaving as if detached

• Armenian: անտարբեր (hy) (antarber)
• Azerbaijani: vecsiz
• Bulgarian: безстрастен (bg) (bezstrasten), равнодушен (bg) (ravnodušen)
• Catalan: indiferent (ca), desmenjat
• Czech: lhostejný (cs)
• Danish: ligeglad (da), indifferent, uinteresseret
• Finnish: välinpitämätön (fi), piittaamaton (fi)
• French: (usually negative) désinvolte (fr)
• Galician: indiferente
• German: nonchalant (de), gleichgültig (de)
• Hungarian: nemtörődöm (hu), közömbös (hu), nonsalant
• Irish: fuarbhruite
• Persian: بی‌اعتنا (bi-e'tenâ)
• Polish: nonszalancki (pl)
• Portuguese: indiferente (pt)
• Russian: равноду́шный (ru) (ravnodúšnyj), безразли́чный (ru) (bezrazlíčnyj), небре́жный (ru) (nebréžnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun chùram
• Spanish: indiferente (es), como las huevas (Peru), como si las huevas (Peru)
• Swedish: nonchalant (sv)
• Turkish: pişkin insan (idiomatic, informal), ilgisiz (tr), vurdumduymaz (tr), umursamaz (tr)
• Ukrainian: байду́жий (uk) (bajdúžyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} nonchalant (sv)

Danish

Etymology

From French nonchalant.

Adjective

nonchalant

1. nonchalant, offhand

Inflection

Inflection of nonchalant

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	nonchalant	—	—2
indefinite neuter singular	nonchalant	—	—2
plural	nonchalante	—	—2
definite attributive1	nonchalante	—	—

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Adverb

nonchalant

1. nonchalantly, offhandedly

Further reading

• “nonchalant” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Alternative forms

• noncha (colloquial)

Etymology

Borrowed from French nonchalant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌnɔn.ʃaːˈlɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: non‧cha‧lant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

nonchalant (comparative nonchalanter, superlative nonchalantst)

1. careless, showing no interest or effort

Declension

Declension of nonchalant
uninflected	nonchalant
inflected	nonchalante
comparative	nonchalanter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		nonchalant	nonchalanter	het nonchalantst het nonchalantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	nonchalante	nonchalantere	nonchalantste
	n. sing.	nonchalant	nonchalanter	nonchalantste
	plural	nonchalante	nonchalantere	nonchalantste
definite		nonchalante	nonchalantere	nonchalantste
partitive		nonchalants	nonchalanters	—

Related terms

• nonchalance

French

Etymology

Present participle of Old French nonchaloir (“to have no importance”), from non +‎ chaloir, equivalent to Latin non (“not”) +‎ calēre (“to be warm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔ̃.ʃa.lɑ̃/

Adjective

nonchalant (feminine nonchalante, masculine plural nonchalants, feminine plural nonchalantes)

1. Marked by a lack of vivacity, vigour, liveliness; slow-moving; indolent
2. Cool, relaxed

Usage notes

• Although French nonchalant is usually appropriate where the English one is used, its meaning is different.

Related terms

• nonchalance
• nonchaloir
• chaloir

Descendants

• → Danish: nonchalant
• → Dutch: nonchalant
• → English: nonchalant
• → German: nonchalant
• → Swedish: nonchalant

Further reading

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

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French nonchalant, from Old French nonchaloir, from Latin non (“not”) +‎ calēre (“to be warm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˌnɔ̃ʃaˈlɑ̃ː], [ˌnɔ̃ʃaˈlant]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

nonchalant (strong nominative masculine singular nonchalanter, comparative nonchalanter, superlative am nonchalantesten)

1. nonchalant

Declension

Positive forms of nonchalant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist nonchalant	sie ist nonchalant	es ist nonchalant	sie sind nonchalant
strong declension (without article)	nominative	nonchalanter	nonchalante	nonchalantes	nonchalante
	genitive	nonchalanten	nonchalanter	nonchalanten	nonchalanter
	dative	nonchalantem	nonchalanter	nonchalantem	nonchalanten
	accusative	nonchalanten	nonchalante	nonchalantes	nonchalante
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der nonchalante	die nonchalante	das nonchalante	die nonchalanten
	genitive	des nonchalanten	der nonchalanten	des nonchalanten	der nonchalanten
	dative	dem nonchalanten	der nonchalanten	dem nonchalanten	den nonchalanten
	accusative	den nonchalanten	die nonchalante	das nonchalante	die nonchalanten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein nonchalanter	eine nonchalante	ein nonchalantes	(keine) nonchalanten
	genitive	eines nonchalanten	einer nonchalanten	eines nonchalanten	(keiner) nonchalanten
	dative	einem nonchalanten	einer nonchalanten	einem nonchalanten	(keinen) nonchalanten
	accusative	einen nonchalanten	eine nonchalante	ein nonchalantes	(keine) nonchalanten

Comparative forms of nonchalant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist nonchalanter	sie ist nonchalanter	es ist nonchalanter	sie sind nonchalanter
strong declension (without article)	nominative	nonchalanterer	nonchalantere	nonchalanteres	nonchalantere
	genitive	nonchalanteren	nonchalanterer	nonchalanteren	nonchalanterer
	dative	nonchalanterem	nonchalanterer	nonchalanterem	nonchalanteren
	accusative	nonchalanteren	nonchalantere	nonchalanteres	nonchalantere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der nonchalantere	die nonchalantere	das nonchalantere	die nonchalanteren
	genitive	des nonchalanteren	der nonchalanteren	des nonchalanteren	der nonchalanteren
	dative	dem nonchalanteren	der nonchalanteren	dem nonchalanteren	den nonchalanteren
	accusative	den nonchalanteren	die nonchalantere	das nonchalantere	die nonchalanteren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein nonchalanterer	eine nonchalantere	ein nonchalanteres	(keine) nonchalanteren
	genitive	eines nonchalanteren	einer nonchalanteren	eines nonchalanteren	(keiner) nonchalanteren
	dative	einem nonchalanteren	einer nonchalanteren	einem nonchalanteren	(keinen) nonchalanteren
	accusative	einen nonchalanteren	eine nonchalantere	ein nonchalanteres	(keine) nonchalanteren

Superlative forms of nonchalant

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am nonchalantesten	sie ist am nonchalantesten	es ist am nonchalantesten	sie sind am nonchalantesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	nonchalantester	nonchalanteste	nonchalantestes	nonchalanteste
	genitive	nonchalantesten	nonchalantester	nonchalantesten	nonchalantester
	dative	nonchalantestem	nonchalantester	nonchalantestem	nonchalantesten
	accusative	nonchalantesten	nonchalanteste	nonchalantestes	nonchalanteste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der nonchalanteste	die nonchalanteste	das nonchalanteste	die nonchalantesten
	genitive	des nonchalantesten	der nonchalantesten	des nonchalantesten	der nonchalantesten
	dative	dem nonchalantesten	der nonchalantesten	dem nonchalantesten	den nonchalantesten
	accusative	den nonchalantesten	die nonchalanteste	das nonchalanteste	die nonchalantesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein nonchalantester	eine nonchalanteste	ein nonchalantestes	(keine) nonchalantesten
	genitive	eines nonchalantesten	einer nonchalantesten	eines nonchalantesten	(keiner) nonchalantesten
	dative	einem nonchalantesten	einer nonchalantesten	einem nonchalantesten	(keinen) nonchalantesten
	accusative	einen nonchalantesten	eine nonchalanteste	ein nonchalantestes	(keine) nonchalantesten

Further reading

• “nonchalant” in Duden online
• “nonchalant” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• nonsjalant

Etymology

From French nonchalant.

Adjective

nonchalant (indefinite singular nonchalant, definite singular and plural nonchalante)

1. nonchalant

References

• “nonchalant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• nonsjalant

Etymology

From French nonchalant.

Adjective

nonchalant (indefinite singular nonchalant, definite singular and plural nonchalante)

1. nonchalant

References

• “nonchalant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French nonchalant.

Adjective

nonchalant (comparative nonchalantare, superlative nonchalantast)

1. nonchalant, flippant, cavalier, careless, reckless

Declension

Inflection of nonchalant

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	nonchalant	nonchalantare	nonchalantast
neuter singular	nonchalant	nonchalantare	nonchalantast
plural	nonchalanta	nonchalantare	nonchalantast
masculine plural2	nonchalante	nonchalantare	nonchalantast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	nonchalante	nonchalantare	nonchalantaste
all	nonchalanta	nonchalantare	nonchalantaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• nonchalans
• nonchalera

Further reading

• “nonchalant”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)