fainthearted

See also: faint-hearted

English

Alternative forms

• faint-hearted
• faint of heart
• faint-heart (archaic)

Etymology

From faint +‎ hearted.

Adjective

fainthearted (comparative more fainthearted, superlative most fainthearted)

1. Faint of heart; irresolute; fearful.

   Synonyms: afraid, cowardly, meek, timid

   Antonyms: brave, determined, steadfast, stouthearted

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe‎^[1]:

     Upon this, our guide, who, by the way, was but a fainthearted fellow, bid us keep in a ready posture, for he believed there were more wolves a-coming. We kept our arms ready, and our eyes about us...

   • 1866, Louisa May Alcott, Behind a Mask: or, A Woman's Power‎^[2]:

     "Fainthearted knight! You should have stayed and covered my retreat. Hark! they are coming! Hide! Hide!" she panted, half in fear, half in merriment, as the gay pursuers rapidly drew nearer.

Derived terms

• faintheartedly
• faintheartedness

Translations

lacking courage, timid

• Bulgarian: страхлив (bg) (strahliv), малодушен (bg) (malodušen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 膽怯／胆怯 (zh) (dǎnqiè), 無勇氣的／无勇气的, 无勇气的 (wú yǒngqì de)

• Danish: frygtsom, forsagt
• French: timoré (fr)
• German: zaghaft (de), feige (de), mutlos (de), schüchtern (de), furchtsam (de)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐍂𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌹𐍃 (grindafraþjis)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄθυμος (áthumos)

• Hungarian: bátortalan (hu)
• Japanese: 勇気のない (ja) (ゆうきのない, yūki no nai)
• Kyrgyz: коркок (ky) (korkok), жүрөгү жок (ky) (jürögü jok)
• Manx: faase-chreeagh
• Maori: harotu, hōpīpī, hopī, tunutunu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forknytt (no)

• Russian: малоду́шный (ru) (malodúšnyj), трусли́вый (ru) (truslívyj), ро́бкий (ru) (róbkij), боязли́вый (ru) (bojazlívyj), сла́бый (ru) (slábyj) духом (ru) m (duxom)
• Spanish: pusilánime (es), medroso (es), apocado (es)
• Swedish: försagd (sv), klenmodig (sv), modlös (sv), räddhågad (sv), nedslagen (sv), rädd (sv), osäker (sv)
• Turkish: ürkek (tr)