piety

See also: pięty

English

Alternative forms

• pietie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English piete, borrowed from Middle French pieté, from Latin pietās. See also the doublets pietà and pity. By surface analysis, pious +‎ -ety.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪ.ɪ.ti/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪɪti
• Hyphenation: pi‧e‧ty

Noun

piety (countable and uncountable, plural pieties)

1. (uncountable, religion) Reverence and devotion to God.

   Colleen's piety led her to make sacrifices that most people would not have made.

2. (uncountable) Similar reverence to one's parents and family or to one's country.

   patriotism as piety, when done right

3. (countable) A devout or otherwise laudable act, thought, or statement.
   • 2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “2. Enable competing articles.”, in larrysanger.org‎^[1]:

     Those who dwell outside of Western Establishment bastions are not idiots just because they do not mouth the pieties of GASP. Some of them can write very well. There are other traditions, you know. They could write for Wikipedia, if you let them. But such true openness and genuine tolerance is unacceptable, precisely because those other traditions fail to pay exclusive homage to GASP sources, through which—Wikipedians imagine—all the benefits of global civilization flow.

   1. A platitude that may be empty or at least facile and undercommitted.

      He was quick with the pieties about hard work, honest communication, active listening, and respecting others' viewpoints, but walking the walk is different from talking the talk.

Derived terms

• baroque piety
• filial piety
• in piety
• pietism
• pietist
• unpiety

Related terms

• pious
• pietà

Translations

reverence and devotion to God

• Arabic: تَقْوَى (taqwā)
• Armenian: բարեպաշտություն (hy) (barepaštutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: набожност (bg) (nabožnost)
• Catalan: pietat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 虔誠 / 虔诚 (zh) (qiánchéng)

• Czech: zbožnost f, nábožnost f
• Dutch: vroomheid (nl)
• Esperanto: pieco
• Finnish: hurskaus (fi)
• French: piété (fr) f
• Galician: piedade (gl) f
• Georgian: ღვთისმოსაობა (ɣvtismosaoba), ღვთისმოშიშობა (ɣvtismošišoba)
• German: Frömmigkeit (de) f
• Greek: ευσέβεια (el) f (efséveia)

  Ancient Greek: εὐσέβεια f (eusébeia)

• Hindi: धार्मिकता (hi) f (dhārmiktā)
• Hungarian: vallásosság (hu)
• Irish: crábhadh m, cráifeacht f, beannaíocht f
• Italian: pietà (it)
• Japanese: 篤信 (ja) (とくしん, tokushin)
• Kazakh: құдайшылдық (qūdaişyldyq)
• Latvian: pietāte (lv) f
• Macedonian: на́божност f (nábožnost), благоче́стие n (blagočéstie)
• Manx: craueeaght f
• Māori: whakaponotanga
• Marathi: धार्मिकता f (dhārmiktā)
• Occitan: pietat (oc) f
• Polish: pobożność (pl) f, bogobojność (pl) f
• Portuguese: piedade (pt) f
• Romanian: evlavie (ro), pietate (ro)
• Russian: на́божность (ru) (nábožnostʹ), благоче́стие (ru) n (blagočéstije)
• Sanskrit: धार्मिकता (sa) f (dhārmikatā)
• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhadh m
• Spanish: piedad (es) f
• Swedish: fromhet (sv) c
• Turkish: dindarlık (tr), sofuluk (tr), takva (tr), züht (tr)
• Ukrainian: набо́жність f (nabóžnistʹ)
• Yiddish: פֿרומקייט f (frumkeyt)

reverence to one's family

• Arabic: بِرّ m (birr)
• Finnish: kunnioitus (fi)
• German: Pietät (de) f
• Greek: σεβασμός (el) m (sevasmós)
• Japanese: 敬愛 (ja) (けいあい, kēai)
• Turkish: saygı (tr), hürmet (tr), ihtiram (tr)

devout act or thought

• Arabic: تُقًى m (tuqan)
• Finnish: kunnioitus (fi)
• Hungarian: áhítat (hu)

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

• French: ^{(please verify)} piété (fr) f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} pietà (it) f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 경건 (ko) (gyeonggeon)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} piedad (es) f

Middle English

Noun

piety

1. alternative form of piete