polite

See also: Polite

English

Etymology

From Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“I polish, smooth”); see polish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlaɪt/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

polite (comparative politer or more polite, superlative politest or most polite)

1. Well-mannered, civilized.
   • Alexander Pope

     He marries, bows at court, and grows polite.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

   It's not polite to use a mobile phone in a restaurant.

2. (obsolete) Smooth, polished, burnished.
   • Isaac Newton

     rays of light falling on a polite surface

Usage notes

The one-word comparative form politer and superlative form politest exist, but are less common than their two-word counterparts more polite and most polite.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:polite

Antonyms

• impolite
• rude

Derived terms

• over-polite
• politeness
• polite society

Related terms

• polish

Translations

well-mannered

• Afrikaans: beleefd
• Arabic: مُؤَدَّب‎‎ (muʾaddab), مُهَذَّب‎‎ (muhaḏḏab)
• Armenian: քաղաքավարի (hy) (kʿałakʿavari)
• Azerbaijani: nəzakətli
• Belarusian: ве́тлівы (vjétlivy)
• Bulgarian: учти́в (bg) (učtív)
• Catalan: cortès
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 有禮貌, 有礼貌 (jau⁵ lai⁵ maau⁶), 斯文 (si¹ man⁴)

  Mandarin: 有禮貌 (zh), 有礼貌 (zh) (yǒulǐmào), 客氣 (zh), 客气 (zh) (kèqi)

  Min Nan: bun5-li2

• Czech: zdvořilý (cs), slušný (cs)
• Danish: høflig (da)
• Dutch: beleefd (nl)
• Esperanto: ĝentila (eo)
• Estonian: viisakas
• Finnish: kohtelias (fi)
• French: poli (fr)
• Georgian: თავაზიანი (tavaziani)
• German: höflich (de)
• Greek: ευγενικός (el) (evgenikós)
• Hebrew: מנומס‎‎ (m'numás)
• Hindi: सभ्य (hi) (sabhya)
• Hungarian: udvarias (hu)
• Icelandic: kurteis (is)
• Indonesian: sopan (id)
• Irish: sibhialta
• Italian: cortese (it), educato (it) m

• Japanese: 丁寧 (ja) (ていねい, teinei), 礼儀正しい (ja) (れいぎただしい, reigitadashii)
• Khmer: ចេះគួរសម (cheh kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ), គួរសម (kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ)
• Korean: 공손한 (ko) (gongson-han)
• Lao: ສຸພາບ (su-phaap)
• Latvian: pieklājīgs m, pieklājīga f
• Lithuanian: mandagus (lt) m, mandagi f
• Macedonian: у́чтив m (účtiv)
• Malay: sopan
• Norman: poli (Jersey)
• Norwegian: høflig
• Persian: مؤدب‎‎ (fa) (mo'addab)
• Polish: uprzejmy (pl), grzeczny (pl)
• Portuguese: educado (pt), polido (pt), cortês (pt)
• Romanian: politicos (ro)
• Russian: ве́жливый (ru) (véžlivyj), учти́вый (ru) (učtívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: modhail, suairc, cùirteil
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: учтив, уљудан, одгојен

  Roman: učtiv (sh), uljudan (sh), odgojen (sh)

• Slovak: zdvorilý, slušný
• Slovene: vljuden (sl)
• Spanish: cortés (es), educado (es)
• Swedish: hövlig (sv), artig (sv)
• Thai: สุภาพ (th) (sùpâap)
• Turkish: kibar (tr), nazik (tr)
• Ukrainian: вві́чливий (uk) (vvíčlyvyj), че́мний (čémnyj)
• Uzbek: odobli (uz), muyolim
• Vietnamese: lịch sự (vi), lễ phép (vi)

Verb

polite (third-person singular simple present polites, present participle politing, simple past and past participle polited)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To polish; to refine; to render polite.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ray to this entry?)

References

• “polite” in John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

Further reading

• polite in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• polite in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• piolet

---

Italian

Adjective

polite f pl

1. feminine plural of polito

Anagrams

• pilote

---

Latin

Verb

polīte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of poliō

References

• polite in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• polite in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers