Etymology
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Circa 1400, original sense “good will, disposition to do good”, Old French benivolence from Latin benevolentia (also directly from Latin), literally “good will”, from bene ( “ well, good ” ) + volentia , form of volēns , form of volō ( “ I wish ” ) , components cognate to English benefit and voluntary , more distantly will (via Proto-Indo-European).[1]
Pronunciation
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IPA (key ) : /bəˈnɛvələns/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
Audio (Mid-Atlantic) (file )
benevolence (countable and uncountable , plural benevolences )
( uncountable ) Disposition to do good .
( uncountable ) Charitable kindness .
( countable ) An altruistic gift or act .
( UK , historical ) A kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority , first so called under Edward IV in 1473.
Antonyms
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Related terms
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Translations
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disposition to do good
Arabic: النزعَة إلى الخير m or f
Bulgarian: доброжела́телност f ( dobroželátelnost )
Catalan: benevolència (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 仁慈 (zh) ( réncí ) , 仁 (zh) ( rén ) , 慈悲 (zh) ( cíbēi )
Danish: velvilje c
Dutch: gulheid (nl) f , welwillendheid (nl) f
Finnish: hyväntahtoisuus (fi)
French: bienveillance (fr) f , bénévolence (fr)
Galician: largueza f
German: Gutmütigkeit (de) f
Greek:
Ancient: φιλανθρωπία f ( philanthrōpía )
Hungarian: jóindulat (hu) sg
Icelandic: örlæti
Ido: bonvolo (io)
Irish: dea-mhéin f
Japanese: 仁 (ja) ( じん, jin ) , 慈悲 (ja) ( じひ, jihi )
Latin: benevolentia f
Macedonian: доброна́мерност f ( dobronámernost ) , благонакло́нетост f ( blagonaklónetost )
Old English: welwillendnes f
Polish: benewolencja f ( archaic ) , łaskawość (pl) f , przychylność (pl) f , życzliwość (pl) f , dobroć (pl) f
Portuguese: benevolência (pt) f
Romanian: bunăvoință (ro) f
Russian: благожела́тельность (ru) f ( blagoželátelʹnostʹ ) , доброжела́тельность (ru) f ( dobroželátelʹnostʹ ) , доброта́ (ru) f ( dobrotá ) , ми́лость (ru) f ( mílostʹ )
Spanish: benevolencia (es) f
Swedish: välvilja (sv) c
Turkish: hayırseverlik (tr) , yardımseverlik (tr) , iyilikseverlik (tr) , esirgemezlik (tr) , himmet (tr)
Ukrainian: доброзичли́вість f ( dobrozyčlývistʹ ) , зичли́вість f ( zyčlývistʹ )
References
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