patience

See also: Patience

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pacience, from Old French pacience (modern French patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”). Displaced native Old English ġeþyld.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪʃəns/

• Audio (US, Inland Northern American):

  (file)

Noun

patience (usually uncountable, plural patiences)

2. The quality of being patient.

   Synonyms: forbearance, restraint, thild, (obsolete, rare, or regional) thole

   Antonym: impatience

   Musical perfection requires practice and a lot of patience.

   I appreciate the patience with which you've explained it.

   • 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

     The most surprising thing was to discover that each job had its little tricks, peculiarities that had been learned in the experience of years, and one of the really pleasing features was the unlimited patience and kindliness of the chargehands and fitters, who would go to great lengths to teach the budding engineer all they themselves knew.

4. Any of various card games that can be played by one person.

   Synonym: solitaire (US, Canada)

Derived terms

• lose patience
• patience dock
• patience is a virtue
• patience of an angel
• patience of a saint
• patience of Job
• patience of Mother Teresa
• test someone's patience
• try someone's patience
• unpatience

Related terms

• passion
• passionate
• passive
• passivity
• patient

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: pasensi

Translations

quality of being patient

• Abkhaz: аҷхара (ačʼxara)
• Albanian: durim (sq) m
• Arabic: صَبْر (ar) m (ṣabr), تَحَمُّل m (taḥammul)

  Algerian Arabic: بَاصِيصَا (baṣiṣa)

  Chadian Arabic: صبر m (sabur)

  Egyptian Arabic: صبر m (ṣabr)

• Armenian: համբերություն (hy) (hamberutʻyun)
• Asturian: paciencia f
• Azerbaijani: səbir (az), dözüm, hövsələ
• Bashkir: түҙемлек (tüźemlek), сабырлыҡ (sabırlıq)
• Belarusian: цярпе́нне n (cjarpjénnje), цярплі́васць f (cjarplívascʹ)
• Bengali: ধৈর্য (bn) (dhōirjo)
• Bulgarian: търпе́ние (bg) n (tǎrpénie), търпели́вост (bg) f (tǎrpelívost)
• Burmese: ခန္တီ (my) (hkanti)
• Catalan: paciència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 耐性 (zh) (nàixìng), 忍耐 (zh) (rěnnài)

• Czech: trpělivost (cs) f
• Danish: tålmod n, tålmodighed c
• Dutch: geduld (nl) n
• Esperanto: pacienco
• Estonian: kannatlikkus
• Faroese: tol n
• Finnish: maltti (fi), kärsivällisyys (fi)
• French: patience (fr) f
• Galician: paciencia f
• Georgian: მოთმინება (motmineba)
• German: Geduld (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌼𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 f (laggamōdei), 𐌿𐍃𐌸𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (usþulains)
• Greek: υπομονή (el) f (ypomoní)

  Ancient: μακροθυμία f (makrothumía), ὑπομονή f (hupomonḗ)

• Haitian Creole: pasyans
• Haryanvi: थ्यावस (thyāvas)
• Hebrew: סַבְלָנוּת (he) f (savlanút)
• Hindi: सहन (hi) m (sahan), धैर्य (hi) m (dhairya), सहनशीलता (hi) f (sahnaśīltā), धीरज (hi) m (dhīraj)
• Hungarian: türelem (hu)
• Icelandic: þolinmæði (is) f, biðlund (is) f
• Indonesian: kesabaran (id)
• Irish: foighne
• Italian: pazienza (it) f
• Japanese: 辛抱 (ja) (しんぼう, shinbō), 忍耐 (ja) (にんたい, nintai), 我慢 (ja) (がまん, gaman)
• Kazakh: дегбір (degbır), сабыр (sabyr)
• Khmer: ខន្តី (km) (khɑntəy)
• Korean: 참을성 (ko) (chameulseong), 인내(忍耐) (ko) (innae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئارام (ckb) (aram), قنیات (qinyat)

  Northern Kurdish: sebir (ku), bêhnfirehî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: сабырдуулук (sabırduuluk), сабыр (sabır), чыдам (ky) (cıdam), чыдамдуулук (ky) (cıdamduuluk)
• Ladino:

  Hebrew: פאסינסייה f

  Roman: pasiensia f

• Lao: ຄວາມອົດທົນ (khuām ʼot thon)
• Latin: patientia
• Latvian: pacietība f
• Lithuanian: kantrybė f
• Luxembourgish: Gedold f
• Macedonian: трпение n (trpenie), стрпливост f (strplivost)
• Malay: sabar (ms), kesabaran
• Maori: manawanuitanga, manawa
• Middle English: pacience
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тэвчээр (mn) (tevčeer)

• Ngazidja Comorian: subira class 9
• Norman: pâcienche f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tålmodighet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: tolmod n

• Occitan: paciéncia (oc) f
• Old English: ġeþyld
• Oromo: obsa
• Pashto: صبر (ps) m (sabᶕr), حوصله (ps) f (hawselá), زغم (ps) m (zǧam)
• Persian: صبر (fa) (sabr), شکیبائی (fa) (šakibâ'i), حوصله (fa) (howsele), تحمل (fa) (tahammol)
• Piedmontese: passiensa
• Polish: cierpliwość (pl) f
• Portuguese: paciência (pt) f
• Romagnol: pazénzia f, pazenzia f
• Romanian: răbdare (ro) f
• Russian: терпе́ние (ru) n (terpénije), терпели́вость (ru) f (terpelívostʹ)
• Sanskrit: सहन (sa) (sahana), धैर्य (sa) n (dhairya)
• Scottish Gaelic: foighidinn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: krotost f, trpeljivost (sh) f, strpljénje (sh) n, str̀pljivōst (sh) f

• Slovak: trpezlivosť f
• Slovene: potrpežljivost (sl) f
• Southern Altai: чыдам (čïdam)
• Spanish: paciencia (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: pasensie
• Swahili: subra (sw), subira (sw), uvumilivu (sw)
• Swedish: tålamod (sv) c
• Tagalog: pasensya (tl)
• Tajik: сабр (tg) (sabr)
• Tatar: сабырлык (tt) (sabırlıq)
• Telugu: ఓర్పు (te) (ōrpu), సహనము (te) (sahanamu)
• Thai: ความอดทน (th) (kwaam-òt-ton)
• Turkish: sabır (tr), faysal (tr), dayanç (tr), çıdam (tr), kudret (tr)
• Turkmen: sabyr
• Ukrainian: терпі́ння n (terpínnja), терпля́чість (uk) f (terpljáčistʹ), терпели́вість f (terpelývistʹ)
• Urdu: سہن (sahan), صبر (ur) m (sabr), تحمل m (tahammul)
• Uyghur: سەۋر (sewr)
• Uzbek: sabr (uz)
• Walloon: pacyince (wa) f
• Welsh: ymaros m, amynedd m, dioddefgarwch m
• Yiddish: געדולד (geduld)
• Yoruba: sùúrù
• Zazaki: sabır, sebır (diq), tehamul n
• Zulu: isineke (zu)

game that can be played by one person

• Belarusian: пасья́нс m (pasʹjáns)
• Bulgarian: пасиа́нс m (pasiáns)
• Catalan: solitari (ca) m
• Czech: pasiáns m
• Dutch: patience (nl) n, mochelen n (Belgium)
• Finnish: pasianssi (fi)
• French: patience (fr) f
• Georgian: პასიანსი (ṗasiansi)
• Greek: πασιέντζα (el) f (pasiéntza)
• Japanese: ソリティア (ja) (soritia)
• Korean: 솔리테어 (solliteeo)
• Macedonian: пасијанс m (pasijans)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kabal m

• Polish: pasjans (pl) m
• Portuguese: paciência (pt) f
• Russian: пасья́нс (ru) m (pasʹjáns)
• Spanish: solitario (es) m
• Swedish: patiens (sv) c
• Tagalog: solitaryo
• Turkish: pasiyans (tr), tektaş, solo test
• Ukrainian: пасья́нс m (pasʹjáns)
• Zazaki: pawen

Further reading

• “patience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “patience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

See also

• clock patience
• garden patience

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French patience, from Old French pacience (modern English patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.sjɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

patience f (plural patiences)

1. patience (the quality of being patient)

   Antonym: impatience

   Il faut beaucoup de patience pour apprendre une nouvelle langue.

   Learning a new language requires a lot of patience.

Derived terms

• perdre patience
• prendre son mal en patience

Related terms

• patient

Descendants

• → Russian: пасья́нс (pasʹjáns, “solitaire (game)”)

Further reading

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

Middle English

Noun

patience

1. alternative form of pacience

Middle French

Alternative forms

• pacience

Etymology

Inherited from Old French pacience, from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”).

Noun

patience f (uncountable)

1. patience (the quality of being patient)

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pacience, from Old French pacience (modern French patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”). Displaced native Old English ġeþyld.

Noun

patience (uncountable)

1. patience (the quality of being patient)
   • 1919, Sir Harry Lauder, Between You and Me‎^[1], New York: The James A. McCann Company, page 259:

     And I’ll be proving it, tae, if ye’ll ha’ patience wi’ me.

     And I’ll prove it, too, if you’ll be patient with me

References

• Eagle, Andy, editor (2025), “patience”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[2]