pious

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pīus (“pious, dutiful, blessed, kind, devout”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“pure”). 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 (comparative more pious, superlative most pious)

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
• pi

Related terms

• piety

Translations

of or pertaining to piety

• Arabic: صَالِح‎ (ṣāliḥ), وَرِع‎ (wariʿ), مُتَدَيِّن‎ (mutadayyin), تَقِيّ‎ (taqiyy), بَرّ‎ (barr)
• Armenian: բարեպաշտ (hy) (barepašt)
• Belarusian: набо́жны (nabóžny), пабо́жны (pabóžny), багабо́йны (bahabójny)
• Bulgarian: на́божен (bg) (nábožen), благочести́в (bg) (blagočestív)
• 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)
• Galician: pío
• Georgian: ღვთისმოშიში (ɣvtismošiši), მორწმუნე (morc̣mune), ღვთისმოსავი (ɣvtismosavi)
• German: fromm (de)
• Greek: ευσεβής (el) (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 (ja) (しんじんぶかい, shinjinbukai)
• Kazakh: ғибадатшыл (ğïbadatşıl)
• Korean: 경건하다 (ko) (gyeonggeonhada)

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پەرستش‎ (peristiş)

• Latin: pius (la)
• Malay: salih, warak (ms), alim (ms)
• Maori: whakapono
• Norman: pieux
• Norwegian: from (no)
• Old English: ǣfæst
• Plautdietsch: fromm
• Polish: pobożny (pl), nabożny (pl), bogobojny (pl), zbożny (pl)
• Portuguese: pio (pt)
• Romanian: pios (ro)
• Russian: на́божный (ru) (nábožnyj), благочести́вый (ru) (blagočestívyj), богобоя́зненный (ru) (bogobojáznennyj)
• Sanskrit: यज्यु (sa) (yajyu)
• Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: pobožan (sh)

• Slovak: zbožný
• Spanish: piadoso (es)
• Swedish: from (sv), pietistisk, pietetsfull (sv), andaktsfull (sv), vördsam (sv)
• Tocharian B: kärtse-ṣälype
• Turkish: dindar (tr), imanı bütün, sofu (tr), salih (tr), mütedeyyin (tr)
• Ukrainian: побо́жний (pobóžnyj), набо́жний (nabóžnyj), благочести́вий (uk) (blahočestývyj)

practiced under the pretext of religion

• Bulgarian: набожен (bg) (nabožen)
• Finnish: tekopyhä (fi), muotojumalinen
• Georgian: ღვთისმოშიში (ɣvtismošiši), ღვთისმოსავი (ɣvtismosavi), მორწმუნე (morc̣mune)
• German: scheinheilig (de) (hypocritical)
• 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)

• Maori: whakapono
• 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 (it)
• Old English: hāliġ

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} piadoso (es)
• Yiddish: פֿרום (frum)

Anagrams

• pouis