polite

See also: Polite, polité, and politè

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlaɪt/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Adjective

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

1. Well-mannered, civilized.

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

   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst:

     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.

2. (obsolete) Smooth, polished, burnished.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     rays of light […] falling on […] a polite surface

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:polite

Antonyms

• impolite
• rude

Derived terms

• over-polite
• polite fiction
• polite literature
• politeness
• polite notice
• polite society

 

Related terms

• polish

Translations

well-mannered

• Afrikaans: beleefd
• Albanian: i sjellshëm (sq)
• Arabic: أَدِيب‎ (ʔadīb), مُؤَدَّب‎ (muʔaddab)
• Armenian: քաղաքավարի (hy) (kʿaġakʿavari)
• Azerbaijani: nəzakətli
• Bashkir: әҙәпле (äðäple), ихтирамлы (ixtiramlı)
• Belarusian: ве́тлівы (vjétlivy)
• Bulgarian: учти́в (bg) (učtív), ве́жлив (bg) (véžliv)
• Burmese: မွန်ရည် (my) (mwanrany), ယဉ်ကျေ (yanykye), ညင်သာ (my) (nyangsa)
• Catalan: cortès (ca), educat (ca), polit (ca)
• Chinese:

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

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

• 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: מְנוּמָס‎ (m'numás)
• Hindi: सभ्य (hi) (sabhya)
• Hungarian: udvarias (hu)
• Icelandic: kurteis (is)
• Indonesian: sopan (id)
• Irish: sibhialta, béasach
• Italian: cortese (it), educato (it)
• Japanese: 丁寧 (ja) (ていねい, teinei), 礼儀正しい (ja) (れいぎただしい, reigitadashii)
• Kazakh: әдепті (ädeptı), биязы (biäzy)
• Khmer: ចេះគួរសម (cheh kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ), គួរសម (kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ)
• Korean: 공손하다 (ko) (gongsonhada)
• Kyrgyz: адептүү (ky) (adeptüü), сылык (ky) (sılık)
• Lao: ສຸພາບ (su phāp)
• Latin: cōmis (la)
• Latvian: pieklājīgs
• Lithuanian: mandagus (lt)
• Macedonian: учтив (učtiv)
• Malay: sopan
• Malayalam: മര്യാദയുള്ള (ml) (maryādayuḷḷa)
• Mongolian: эелдэг (mn) (ejeldeg)
• Norman: poli (Jersey)
• Norwegian: høflig
• Persian: مؤدب‎ (fa) (mo'addab)
• Plautdietsch: heeflich
• 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: у̀чтив, уљудан, одгојен

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

• Slovak: zdvorilý, slušný
• Slovene: vljuden (sl)
• Spanish: cortés (es), educado (es)
• Swedish: hövlig (sv), artig (sv)
• Tajik: боадаб (boadab), боназокат (bonazokat), мулоим (tg) (muloyim), хушмуомила (xušmuomila), муаддаб (muaddab)
• Thai: สุภาพ (th) (sù-pâap)
• Turkish: kibar (tr), nazik (tr)
• Turkmen: näzik, hoşamaý, edepli
• Ukrainian: вві́чливий (uk) (vvíčlyvyj), че́мний (čémnyj), ґре́чний (uk) (gréčnyj)
• Uzbek: odobli (uz), muyolim, xushmuomala (uz), silliq (uz), boadab (uz), adabli (uz), nazokatli (uz)
• Vietnamese: lịch sự (vi), lễ phép (vi)
• Walloon: poli (wa) m, oniesse (wa) c

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.
   • 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC:

     those exercises plied, which polite men's spirits

References

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

Further reading

• “polite”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “polite”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• piolet, topile

Italian

Adjective

polite f pl

1. feminine plural of polito

Anagrams

• oplite, 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

Spanish

Verb

polite

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of polir combined with te