forgiveness

English

Wikiquote

Etymology

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English forġiefnes, equivalent to forgive +‎ -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɡɪvnəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚˈɡɪvnəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: for‧give‧ness

Noun

forgiveness (usually uncountable, plural forgivenesses)

1. The action of forgiving.

   He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop.

   • 1850, T. S. Arthur, “Happy on a Little”, in Sketches of Life and Character‎^[1], Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 89:

     At the end of a week, she could bear the suspense no longer, and so went humbly to her old home and sought forgiveness.

   • 1913 January, G. E. Reece, “"The Bookman" Prize Competitions § Results of Competitions for December § Forgive!”, in The Bookman, volume XLIII, number 256:

     But Oh! what anguish can more poignant be
     Than of the heart which vainly longs to plead
     Forgiveness from the dead? Shall the dead heed?

   • 2014, Jimmy Carter, “Full Prisons and Legal Killing”, in A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power‎^[2], Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 39:

     Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and misinterpreting Holy Scriptures and numerous examples of mercy. We remember God’s forgiveness of Cain, who killed Abel, and the adulterer King David, who arranged the killing of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, his lover.

2. Readiness to forgive.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 130:3–4:

     If thou, Lord, shouldest marke iniquities: O Lord, who shal stand? But there is forgiuenesse with thee: that thou mayest be feared.

   • 1931, Mahatma Gandhi, Young India:

     The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Synonyms

• (action of forgiving): remission
• (readiness to forgive): mercy

Derived terms

• it's better to ask forgiveness than permission
• it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission

 

Translations

the action of forgiving

• Albanian: falje (sq) f
• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: مَغْفِرَة f (maḡfira), غُفْرَان m (ḡufrān), مُسَامَحَة f (musāmaḥa), عَفْو (ar) m (ʕafw)
• Armenian: ներում (hy) (nerum)
• Aromanian: ljirtari f, ljirtãciuni f
• Azerbaijani: əfv (az), bağışlama, bağışlanma
• Belarusian: прабачэ́нне n (prabačénnje)
• Bengali: ক্ষমা (bn) (khoma), মাফি (maphi), মাগফিরাত (bn) (magfirat)
• Bulgarian: опроще́ние (bg) n (oprošténie), про́шка (bg) f (próška), извине́ние (bg) n (izvinénie)
• Burmese: ခွင့်လွှတ်ခြင်း (hkwang.hlwathkrang:)
• Cebuano: kapasayloan
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: odpuštění (cs) n
• Danish: tilgivelse (da) c, eftergivelse c
• Dutch: vergeving (nl) f, vergiffenis (nl) f
• Esperanto: pardono
• Estonian: andeksand, andeksandmine
• Finnish: anteeksianto (fi), anteeksi antaminen; anteeksiantamus (religious)
• French: pardon (fr) m
• Georgian: შენდობა (šendoba), პატიება (ṗaṭieba)
• German: Verzeihung (de) f, Vergebung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄 n (aflēt)
• Greek: συγχώρεση (el) f (synchóresi), συγγνώμη (el) f (syngnómi)

  Ancient Greek: ἄφεσις f (áphesis)

• Hebrew: סְלִיחָה (he) f (slikhá)
• Hindi: क्षमा (hi) f (kṣamā), माफ़ी f (māfī)
• Hungarian: megbocsátás (hu)
• Irish: maitheamh m
• Italian: perdono (it) m
• Japanese: 容赦 (ja) (ようしゃ, yōsha)
• Kazakh: кешірім (keşırım)
• Korean: 용서(容恕) (ko) (yongseo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لێبوردن (lêburdin)

• Kyrgyz: кечирүү (kecirüü)
• Lao: ການໃຫ້ອະໄພ (kān hai ʼa phai)
• Latin: venia f, remissio f
• Latvian: piedošana f
• Lithuanian: atleidimas m
• Macedonian: прошка f (proška), извинение n (izvinenie)
• Malagasy: Famelana
• Malay: maaf
• Manx: maih, maihnys m
• Maori: murunga, murunga hara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilgivelse m

• Old English: forġiefnes f
• Persian: بخشش (fa) (baxšeš), گذشت (fa) (gozašt), معافی (fa) (mo'âfi)
• Polish: wybaczenie (pl) n, przebaczenie (pl) n, odpuszczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: perdão (pt) m
• Romanian: iertare (ro) f, scuză (ro) f, pardon (ro) n
• Russian: проще́ние (ru) n (proščénije), извине́ние (ru) n (izvinénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опроште́ње n, извиње́ње n

  Roman: oprošténje (sh), izvinjénje (sh) n

• Slovak: odpustenie n
• Slovene: odpuščanje n
• Spanish: perdón (es) m
• Swahili: ghofira
• Swedish: förlåtelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: kapatawaran (tl)
• Tajik: бахшиш (tg) (baxšiš), гузашт (guzašt)
• Thai: อโหสิกรรม (à-hǒo-sì-gam), การให้อภัย (gaan-hâi-à-pai)
• Tocharian B: kṣānti
• Turkish: af (tr), bağışlama (tr)
• Ukrainian: проще́ння n (proščénnja), проба́чення n (probáčennja)
• Urdu: مُعَافِی f (mu'āfī)
• Uzbek: kechirish, kechirim (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự tha thứ (vi)
• Volapük: pard (vo)

readiness to forgive

• Danish: barmhjertighed c, villighed til at tilgive
• Dutch: vergevingsgezindheid (nl)
• Finnish: anteeksiantavaisuus
• German: Versöhnlichkeit f, Nachsicht (de) f
• Russian: снисходи́тельность (ru) f (snisxodítelʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: misericordia (es) f

References

• “forgiveness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.