forgive

English

Etymology

Alteration (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, forȝiven, from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, to give”), from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- +‎ give (etymologically for- + yive). Cognate with Scots forgeve, forgif, forgie (“to forgive”), West Frisian ferjaan (“to forgive”), Dutch vergeven (“to forgive”), German vergeben (“to forgive”), Icelandic fyrirgefa (“to forgive”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fər-gĭv', fôr-gĭv', IPA^(key): /fə(ɹ)ˈɡɪv/, /fɔː(ɹ)ˈɡɪv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚˈɡɪv/

• Audio (US, California)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪv

Verb

forgive (third-person singular simple present forgives, present participle forgiving, simple past forgave, past participle forgiven)

1. (transitive) To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.

   Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss.

   Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.

2. (transitive) To pardon for (something); to waive any negative feeling over or retribution for.

   Forgive us our trespasses.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Prologue:

     Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
     ⁠Confusions of a wasted youth;
     ⁠Forgive them where they fail in truth,
     And in thy wisdom make me wise.

3. (transitive) To waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.

   Forgive a debt, that is, tell a debtor that a repayment of a loan is no longer needed.

4. (intransitive) To accord forgiveness.
   • a. 1768, Laurence Sterne, Joseph's History considered; - Forgiveness of Injuries (sermon)

     The brave know only how to forgive […] A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.

5. (transitive) To look past; to look beyond.

   The music critic loves the instrumentation of the song so much that he can forgive the confusing lyrics.

6. (transitive) To redeem; to offset the bad effects of something.
   • 2015, Todd in the Shadows, The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2014:

     Okay, a good hook forgives everything.

Derived terms

• forgivable
• forgive and forget
• forgive but don't forget
• forgiveness
• forgiver
• forgiveworthy

Translations

transitive, to pardon

• Abkhaz: анажьра (anažra)
• Albanian: fal (sq)
• Amharic: ይቅር ማለት (yəḳr malät)
• Arabic: سَامَحَ (sāmaḥa), غَفَرَ (ḡafara)
• Armenian: ներել (hy) (nerel)
• Aromanian: ljert
• Asturian: perdonar
• Azerbaijani: bağışlamaq (az)
• Basque: barkatu
• Belarusian: прабача́ць impf (prabačácʹ), праба́чыць pf (prabáčycʹ), дарава́ць impf or pf (daravácʹ)
• Bulgarian: проща́вам (bg) impf (proštávam), простя́ pf (prostjá), опрощавам (bg) (oproštavam)
• Burmese: ခွင့်လွှတ် (my) (hkwang.hlwat), အခွင့်လွှတ် (my) (a.hkwang.hlwat)
• Catalan: perdonar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 原諒／原谅 (jyun⁴ loeng⁶), 寬恕／宽恕 (fun¹ syu³), 饒恕／饶恕 (jiu⁴ syu³)

  Mandarin: 原諒／原谅 (zh) (yuánliàng), 寬恕／宽恕 (zh) (kuānshù), 饒恕／饶恕 (zh) (ráoshù)

• Czech: odpouštět (cs) impf, odpustit pf
• Danish: tilgive, forlade (da)
• Dutch: vergeven (nl)
• Esperanto: pardoni
• Estonian: andestama, andeks andma
• Finnish: antaa anteeksi (fi)
• French: pardonner (fr)
• Galician: perdoar (gl)
• Georgian: პატიება (ṗaṭieba), მიტევება (miṭeveba)
• German: vergeben (de), verzeihen (de), entschuldigen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (fragiban)
• Greek: συγχωρώ (el) (synchoró)

  Ancient Greek: ἀφίημι (aphíēmi), χαρίζομαι (kharízomai)

• Hebrew: סָלַח (he) (salákh)
• Hindi: माफ़ करना (māf karnā), क्षमा करना (kṣamā karnā)
• Hungarian: megbocsát (hu)
• Icelandic: fyrirgefa (is)
• Ido: pardonar (io)
• Indonesian: memaafkan (id), mengampuni (id)
• Ingrian: antaa anteeks
• Irish: maith (ga)
• Italian: perdonare (it)
• Japanese: 許す (ja) (yurusu), 容赦する (ja) (yōsha suru)
• Kazakh: кешіру (keşıru), кешірім жасау (keşırım jasau), ғапу ету (ğapu etu), ғафу ету (ğafu etu)
• Khmer: អភ័យទោស (a’pʰey tooh), អត់ទោស (ɑt tooh)
• Korean: 용서하다 (yongseohada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لێخۆشبوون (lêxoşbûn)

• Kyrgyz: кечирүү (kecirüü), кечирип коюу (kecirip koyuu)
• Lao: ໃຫ້ອະໄພ (hai ʼa phai), ອະໄພ (ʼa phai)
• Latgalian: pīdūt
• Latin: ignōscō (la), veniam do, condōnō, iustificō, redōnō
• Latvian: piedot
• Lingala: límbisa
• Lithuanian: atleisti, dovanoti (lt)
• Low German:

  German Low German: vergeven

• Luxembourgish: verzeien, verginn
• Macedonian: про́стува impf (próstuva), про́сти pf (prósti), опро́стува (opróstuva), про́штава impf (próštava)
• Malay: memaafkan
• Maori: muru
• Middle English: forȝiven
• Mongolian: уучлах (mn) (uučlax)
• Mwali Comorian: uswamihi
• Ngazidja Comorian: usamihi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilgi (no), forlate (no)

  Nynorsk: tilgjeva, orsaka

• Occitan: perdonar (oc)
• Old English: forġiefan
• Old Galician-Portuguese: perdõar
• Old Occitan: perdonar
• Persian: بخشیدن (fa) (baxšidan)
• Polish: przebaczać (pl) impf, przebaczyć (pl) pf, odpuszczać (pl) impf, odpuścić (pl) pf, darowywać (pl) impf, darować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: perdoar (pt), desculpar (pt)
• Romanian: ierta (ro)
• Russian: проща́ть (ru) impf (proščátʹ), прости́ть (ru) pf (prostítʹ), извиня́ть (ru) impf (izvinjátʹ), извини́ть (ru) pf (izvinítʹ), миловать (ru) impf (milovatʹ), помиловать (ru) pf (pomilovatʹ)
• Sanskrit: मृडति (sa) (mṛḍati)
• Scottish Gaelic: math
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опра́штати impf, опро̀стити pf

  Roman: opráštati (sh) impf, opròstiti (sh) pf

• Slovak: odpúšťať impf, odpustiť pf
• Slovene: odpuščati impf, odpustiti pf
• Spanish: perdonar (es), disculpar (es)
• Swahili: -samehe
• Swedish: förlåta (sv)
• Tajik: бахшидан (tg) (baxšidan)
• Tamil: மன்னி (ta) (maṉṉi)
• Tetum: perdua
• Thai: ยกโทษให้ (yók tôht hâi), ให้อภัย (th) (hâi a-pai), อภัย (th) (à-pai)
• Turkish: affetmek (tr), bağışlamak (tr)
• Turkmen: razylaşmak, bagyşlamak (tk)
• Ukrainian: проща́ти impf (proščáty), прости́ти pf (prostýty), пробача́ти impf (probačáty), проба́чити pf (probáčyty),
• Urdu: معاف کرنا (māf karnā)
• Uzbek: kechirmoq (uz), afv etmoq
• Vietnamese: tha thứ (vi), tha (vi)
• Volapük: pardön (vo)
• Welsh: maddau (cy)
• West Frisian: ferjou
• Yiddish: פֿאַרגעבן (fargebn), מוחל זײַן (moykhl zayn)

References

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