pardon

See also: Pardon

English

Etymology

Middle English pardonen from Old French pardoner from Vulgar Latin *perdonare, from per- + donare, a loan-translation of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from fir- + geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑrdən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹɾn̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)dən

Noun

pardon (plural pardons)

1. Forgiveness for an offence.
   • 1748: Samuel Richardson, Clarissa

     a step, that could not be taken with the least hope of ever obtaining pardon from or reconciliation with any of my friends;

2. (law) An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed.
   • 1974: President Gerald Ford, Proclamation 4311

     I... have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States ...

Derived terms

• I beg your pardon

Translations

forgiveness for an offence

• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: إبراء m ('ibraa'), إعفاء m ('i3faa')
• Catalan: perdó m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原諒, 原谅 (zh) (yuánliàng)

• Esperanto: pardono
• Finnish: anteeksianto (fi)
• French: pardon (fr) m

• German: Vergebung (de) f, Verzeihung (de) f
• Greek: συγγνώμη (el) f (syngnómi), συχώρεση (el) f (sychóresi)
• Hungarian: bocsánat (hu)
• Japanese: 許し (ゆるし, yurushi)
• Manx: maihnys m
• Norwegian: tilgivelse
• Portuguese: perdão (pt) m
• Russian: прощение (ru) n (proščénije)
• Spanish: perdón (es) m

releasing order

• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: عفو m (3afw), صفح m (SafH)
• Catalan: perdó m, indult (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赦免 (zh) (shèmiǎn)

• Czech: milost f
• Finnish: armahdus (fi)
• French: grâce (fr) f

• German: Begnadigung (de) f
• Greek: αμνηστεία f (amnisteía), χάρη (el) f (chári)
• Hungarian: kegyelem (hu)
• Japanese: 赦免 (ja) (しゃめん, shamen), 恩赦 (おんしゃ, onsha), 勘弁 (かんべん, kanben)
• Norwegian: benådning
• Polish: łaska (pl) f
• Portuguese: indulto (pt) m, absolvição (pt) f
• Russian: помилование (ru) n (pomílovanije)
• Spanish: indulto m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: חנינה (ĥanina) f

• Kurdish: به‌خشین (ku), لێبووران

Verb

pardon (third-person singular simple present pardons, present participle pardoning, simple past and past participle pardoned)

1. (transitive) To forgive.
   • 1599: William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

     O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

   • 1815: Jane Austen, Emma

     I hope you will not find he has outstepped the truth more than may be pardoned, in consideration of the motive.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, The Celebrity:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

2. (transitive, law) To grant an official pardon for a crime; unguilt.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.

Derived terms

• pardonable
• pardoner
• pardon me
• pardon my French
• unpardonable

Translations

to forgive

• Arabic: عفا (3afaa), غفر (gháfara)
• Catalan: perdonar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原諒, 原谅 (zh) (yuánliàng), 寬恕, 宽恕 (zh) (kuānshù)

• Finnish: antaa anteeksi
• French: pardonner (fr)
• German: verzeihen (de), vergeben (de)
• Japanese: 許す (ゆるす, yurusu)

• Norwegian: tilgi (no)
• Portuguese: perdoar (pt)
• Russian: прощать (ru) impf (proščát'), простить (ru) pf (prostít')
• Scottish Gaelic: math
• Spanish: perdonar (es)
• Swedish: förlåta (sv)
• Vietnamese: tha thứ (vi)
• Volapük: pardön (vo)

to grant an official pardon

• Arabic: عفا (3afaa), عذر (3ádhara)
• Catalan: perdonar (ca), indultar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赦免 (zh) (shèmiǎn)

• Dutch: gratiëren
• Finnish: armahtaa
• French: pardonner (fr), gracier (fr)

• German: begnadigen (de)
• Japanese: 赦免する (ja) (しゃめんする, shamen-surú), 容赦する (ようしゃする, yōsha-surú), 勘弁する (かんべんする, kanben-surú)
• Norwegian: benåde
• Portuguese: indultar, absolver (pt)
• Russian: помиловать (ru) (pomílovat')
• Spanish: indultar

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: اذن
• French: grâce

• Ido: indulgo
• Swedish: förlåta, ursäkta

Interjection

Pardon?

1. Often used when someone does not understand what another person says.

   Pardon?, What did you say?, Can you say that again?

Translations

interjection, request to repeat

• Arabic: عفواً! (`áfwan!), ماذا قلت؟ (maadha qúlta? (to m.), maadha qúlti? (to f.))
• Catalan: perdó m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 請再說一遍, 请再说一遍 (zh) (qǐng zàishuō yī biàn), 什么 (zh) (shénme), 什麼

• Finnish: Anteeksi?, Anteeksi kuinka?, Mitä? (colloquial)
• French: désolé (fr), excusez-moi (fr), excuse-moi, pardon?, comment?, (plain) quoi (fr)
• German: pardon?, was? (colloquial), wie? (colloquial), wie bitte?
• Italian: come (it)

• Japanese: (polite) はい? (ja) (hai?) ; (plain) 何? (ja) (なに?, nani?), え? (ja) (e?)
• Korean: 네? (ko) (ne?)
• Persian: ببخشید (bebakhšid), معذرت می‌خواهم (ma'zerat mi-xâham)
• Portuguese: perdão? (pt), como? (pt)
• Romanian: poftim (ro) n
• Russian: прошу прощения (prošú proščénija), что вы сказали (što vy skazáli)?, (plain) что? (ru) (čto?) (read: što)
• Spanish: ¿cómo?, ¿perdón?, ¿ah? (Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, colloquial), ¿eh? (Cuba, Spain, colloquial), ¿mande? (Mexico, colloquial)
• Swedish: ursäkta (sv)?, förlåt (sv)?, va (sv)? (highly colloquial)

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French

Etymology

Deverbal of pardonner.

Pronunciation

• audio (France)

  (file)

• audio (Quebec)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.dɔ̃/

Interjection

pardon

1. excuse me
2. sorry

Descendants

• Bulgarian: пардон́ (pardoń, “colloquial”)
• Czech: pardón (“colloquial”)

• English: pardon
• Russian: пардон́ (pardoń, “colloquial”)

Noun

pardon m

1. pardon, forgiveness

Anagrams

• pondra

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Swedish

Noun

pardon c

1. mercy

Synonyms

• nåd