ignorance

See also: Ignorance

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• ignoraunce

Etymology

From Middle English ignoraunce, ignorance, from Old French ignorance, from Latin ignōrantia. By surface analysis, ignore +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭg'nərəns, IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡ.nə.ɹəns/
• (General American) enPR: ĭg'nərəns, IPA^(key): /ˈɪɡ.nɚ.əns/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

ignorance (countable and uncountable, plural ignorances)

1. The condition of being uninformed or uneducated; lack of knowledge or information.

   Synonyms: blindness, cluelessness, knowledgelessness, unawareness, unknowingness, unknowledge

   She shows total ignorance about the topic at hand.

   • 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 156:

     There had been the whisky and Perrier in the morning but, in my ignorance of alcoholics then, I could not imagine one whisky harming anyone who was driving in an open car in the rain.

2. (religion, in the plural) Sins committed through ignorance.

Usage notes

• In Roman Catholic theology, vincible or wilful ignorance is such as one might be fairly expected to overcome, hence it can never be an excuse for sin, whether of omission or of commission; while invincible ignorance, which a person cannot help or abate, altogether excuses from guilt.

Derived terms

• argument from ignorance
• ignorance is bliss
• ignorant
• invincible ignorance
• pluralistic ignorance
• tools of ignorance
• vincible ignorance
• willful ignorance

 

Translations

condition of being uninformed or uneducated

• Afrikaans: onkunde
• Albanian: injorancë (sq) f
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: جَهْل (ar) m (jahl), جَهَالَة f (jahāla)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: անգիտություն (hy) (angitutʻyun), տգիտություն (hy) (tgitutʻyun)
• Asturian: inorancia f, inoranza f
• Azerbaijani: cəhalət (az), zülmət (az), nadanlıq, avamlıq
• Belarusian: неву́цтва n (njevúctva), няве́данне n (njavjédannje)
• Breton: diouiziegez f
• Bulgarian: неве́жество (bg) n (nevéžestvo), незна́ние (bg) n (neznánie), неве́дение (bg) n (nevédenie)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: ignorància (ca) f
• Cebuano: katagaw
• Cherokee: ᎤᎧᏁᎳ (ukanela)
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無知／无知 (zh) (wúzhī)

• Czech: neznalost f, nevědomost f
• Danish: uvidenhed
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: onwetendheid (nl) f, ignorantie (nl) f, onkunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: nescio
• Estonian: teadmatus, asjatundmatus, võhiklikkus, ignorantsus
• Faroese: fávitska f, fákunna f
• Finnish: tietämättömyys (fi)
• French: ignorance (fr) f
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: ignorancia (gl) f
• Georgian: უვიცობა (uvicoba)
• German: Unwissenheit (de) f, Unwissen (de) n, Nichtwissen (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐍆𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 f (unfrōdei), 𐌿𐌽𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹 f (unkunþi)
• Greek: άγνοια (el) f (ágnoia)

  Ancient: ἄγνοια f (ágnoia), ἀμαθία f (amathía)

• Gujarati: અજ્ઞાન (gu) n (ajñān), અવિદ્યા (avidyā)
• Hebrew: בּוּרוּת (he)
• Hindi: अज्ञान (hi) m (ajñān), अविद्या (hi) f (avidyā), बेखबरी (hi) f (bekhabrī), नासमझी (hi) f (nāsamjhī), नादानी (hi) f (nādānī), बेसमझी (hi) (besamjhī)
• Hungarian: tudatlanság (hu)
• Icelandic: fáfræði f, fáviska (is) f, vanþekking f, þekkingarleysi n, fákunnátta (is) f, vankunnátta f
• Ido: nesavo (io)
• Inari Sami: tietimettumvuotâ
• Indonesian: ketidaktahuan
• Interlingua: inscientia
• Irish: aineolas m, ainbhios m
• Italian: ignoranza (it) f
• Japanese: 無知 (ja) (muchi)
• Kannada: ಅಜ್ಞಾನ (kn) (ajñāna)
• Khmer: ភាពល្ងង់ខ្លៅ (pʰiep lŋʊəŋ klav)
• Korean: 무지 (ko) (muji)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نەزانی (nezanî)

  Northern Kurdish: nezanî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: билбестик (ky) (bilbestik)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: ignorantia
• Latvian: nezināšana f
• Lithuanian: nežinojimas m
• Lun Bawang: falung
• Macedonian: незнаење n (neznaenje)
• Malagasy: tsifahalalana (mg)
• Malayalam: അജ്ഞത (ml) (ajñata), വിവരക്കേട് (vivarakkēṭŭ)
• Manx: neufys m, neuhoiggaltys m
• Maore Comorian: ujinga class 11
• Maori: kūaretanga
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: udjinga class 11
• Northern Sami: diehtemeahttunvuohta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uvitenhet (no) m or f

• Occitan: ignorància (oc) f
• Odia: ଅଜ୍ଞତା (ôjñôta)
• Old English: nytennes f
• Oromo: wallaalummaa
• Persian: جهل (fa) (jahl), جهالت (fa) (jehâlat), نادانی (fa) (nâdâni)
• Polish: ignorancja (pl) f, niewiedza (pl) f, nieuctwo n, nieznajomość f, nieświadomość (pl) f
• Portuguese: ignorância (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਬੇਖ਼ਬਰ (bexbar), ਬੇਸਮਝ (besmajh), ਨਦਾਨ (nadān), ਅਣਜਾਣ (pa) (aṇajāṇ), ਅਗਿਆਨ (pa) (agiāna)
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: ignoranță (ro) f
• Russian: неве́жество (ru) n (nevéžestvo), неве́дение (ru) n (nevédenije), незна́ние (ru) n (neznánije), неосведомлённость (ru) f (neosvedomljónnostʹ)
• Sanskrit: अज्ञान (sa) n (ajñāna), अविद्या (sa) f (avidyā)
• Scottish Gaelic: ainfhios m, ainfhiosrachd f, aineolas f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: незнање n

  Roman: neznanje (sh) n

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Skolt Sami: tieʹđǩanivuõtt
• Slovak: neznalosť f, nevedomosť f
• Slovene: nevednost f
• Spanish: ignorancia (es) f
• Swahili: ujinga (sw) class 11
• Swedish: okunnighet (sv) c, ignorans (sv), okunskap (sv) c
• Tagalog: kamangmangan, ignoransiya
• Tamil: அறியாமை (ta) (aṟiyāmai)
• Telugu: నేరమి (te) (nērami), అజ్ఞానం (te) (ajñānaṁ), అజ్ఞానము (te) (ajñānamu)
• Thai: ความไม่รู้ (kwaam mâi róo)
• Turkish: cehalet (tr), bilgisizlik (tr)
• Ukrainian: неві́гластво n (nevíhlastvo), неу́цтво n (neúctvo), незнання́ n (neznannjá)
• Urdu: اگیان m (agyān)
• Vietnamese: sự thiếu hiểu biết, sự dốt nát
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: anwybodaeth m or f
• Yiddish: אומוויסנהײַט f (umvisnhayt)

Anagrams

• ear coning, enorganic, garcinone

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ignorance, borrowed from Latin ignōrantia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ɲɔ.ʁɑ̃s/
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

ignorance f (plural ignorances)

1. ignorance
   • 1772, Paul-Henri Thiry (baron d') Holbach, Le Bon-Sens, ou, Idées Naturelles Opposées aux Idées Surnaturelles‎^[1], London: Marc-Michel Rey, →LCCN, →OL, §30, page 22:

     Tous les enfans ſont des athées; ils n’ont aucune idée de Dieu: ſont-ils donc criminels à cauſe de cette ignorance?

     All children are born atheists; they have no idea of God. Are they then criminal on account of their ignorance?

Further reading

• “ignorance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• rencognai

Old French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ignōrantia.

Noun

ignorance oblique singular, f (oblique plural ignorances, nominative singular ignorance, nominative plural ignorances)

1. ignorance (lacking of knowledge; lack of understanding)
2. something that one is ignorant of

Descendants

• English: ignorance
• French: ignorance

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (ignorance, supplement)