pious

English

Etymology

From Latin pīus (“pious, dutiful, blessed, kind, devout”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”). More at feal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəs

Adjective

pious (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to piety, exhibiting piety, devout, godfearing.
   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)[1]

     Its male residents dress like crows: heavy black suits, black Borsalino hats, the old grandfathers hugely whiskered and the boys in peot, the curled sidelocks of the pious.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used pejoratively, in the sense of "mistaken" or "false" piety, as in "pious errors", "pious frauds".

Synonyms

• reverent, reverential, dutiful, religious, devout, godly

Antonyms

• (of or pertaining to piety): impious, independent, profane

Derived terms

• piously
• piousness

Related terms

• piety

Translations

of or pertaining to piety

• Arabic: صَالِح‎ (ṣāliḥ), وَرِع‎ (wariʿ), مُتَدَيِّن‎ (mutadayyin)
• Bulgarian набожен (bg) (nabožen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 敬虔 (zh) (jìngqián), 虔誠 (zh), 虔诚 (zh) (qiánchéng)

• Czech: zbožný (cs)
• Danish: ydmyg, from (da)
• Dutch: vroom (nl)
• Esperanto: pia (eo)
• Finnish: hurskas (fi), harras (fi), jumalinen (fi), jumalaapelkääväinen
• French: pieux (fr)
• Georgian: ღვთისმოშიში (ɣvtismošiši), მორწმუნე (morc̣mune), ღვთისმოსავი (ɣvtismosavi)
• German: fromm (de)
• Greek: ευσεβής (el) m, f (efsevís), θρήσκος (el) (thrískos)

  Ancient: εὐσεβής (eusebḗs), θρῆσκος (thrêskos)

• Indonesian: saleh (id)
• Japanese: 敬虔な (ja) (けいけいんな, keiken-na), 信心深い (しんじんぶかい, shinjin-bukai)

• Maori: whakapono
• Norman: pieux
• Korean: 신심 (ko) (shinshim), 경건 (ko) (kyeonggeon)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: په‌رستش‎

• Latin: pius (la) m
• Malay: salih, warak, alim
• Norwegian: from (no)
• Polish: pobożny (pl)
• Portuguese: pio (pt)
• Russian: на́божный (ru) (nábožnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach
• Serbo-Croatian: pobožan (sh)
• Spanish: piadoso m
• Swedish: from (sv), pietistisk, pietetsfull (sv), andaktsfull, vördsam
• Turkish: dindar (tr), imanı bütün, sofu (tr), salih (tr), mütedeyyin (tr)

practiced under the pretext of religion

• Bulgarian набожен (bg) (nabožen)
• Finnish: tekopyhä (fi), muotojumalinen
• Georgian: ღვთისმოშიში (ɣvtismošiši), ღვთისმოსავი (ɣvtismosavi), მორწმუნე (morc̣mune)
• Japanese: (phrase) 信心の名を借りた (shinjin no na wo karita), 宗教にかこつけた (shūkyō ni kakotsuketa); (hypocritical) 偽善的な (gizen-teki na)

• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach
• Serbo-Croatian: nabožan (sh)
• Turkish: bağnaz (tr), yobaz (tr)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} pio
• Old English: hāliġ
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} piadoso, ^{(please verify)} piadosa
• Yiddish: פֿרום (frum)