decorum

See also: décorum and decòrum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin decōrum, neuter form of decōrus (“proper, decent”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɔːɹəm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm
• Hyphenation: de‧co‧rum

Noun

decorum (countable and uncountable, plural decora or decorums)

1. (uncountable) Appropriate social behavior.

   Synonyms: decency, courtesy, propriety, etiquette

   • 2010, Pseudonymous Bosch (pseudonym; Raphael Simon), This Isn't What It Looks Like, ch. 4

     It was sort of a finishing school. You know, to teach proper social decorum and so on and so forth.

   • 2020 September 29, Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns, “With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Mr. Trump’s volcanic performance appeared to be the gambit of a president seeking to tarnish his opponent by any means available, unbounded by norms of accuracy and decorum and unguided by a calculated sense of how to sway the electorate or assuage voters’ reservations about his leadership.

   • 2023 May 25, Martin Pengelly, “House Democrats laugh off Marjorie Taylor Greene’s call for ‘decorum’”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Democrats in the House chamber burst into raucous laughter when Marjorie Taylor Greene called for “decorum”.

2. (countable) A convention of social behavior.
   • 1834 January, [Edgar Allan Poe], “The Visionary”, in The Lady’s Book, page 41, column 2:

     In the architecture and embellishments of the chamber, the evident design was to dazzle and astound. Little attention had been paid to the decora of what is technically called “keeping,” or to the proprieties of nationality. The eye wandered from object to object, and rested upon none; neither the “Grotesques” of the Greek painters, nor the sculptures of the best Italian days, nor the huge carvings of untutored Egypt.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *deḱ-‎ (1 c, 21 e)

Translations

appropriate social behavior; propriety

• Bulgarian: благоприличие (bg) n (blagopriličie)
• Catalan: decòrum (ca) m, decor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 體統／体统 (zh) (tǐtǒng), 端正 (zh) (duānzhèng)

• Finnish: hyvä käytös, säädyllisyys (fi), käytöstavat
• French: décorum (fr) m
• Galician: decoro (gl) m
• Georgian: დეკორუმი (deḳorumi), ეტიკეტი (eṭiḳeṭi), წესიერება (c̣esiereba), ღირსეულობა (ɣirseuloba), ზრდილობა (zrdiloba), ზრდილობის წესები (zrdilobis c̣esebi)
• German: Anstand (de) m, Etikette (de) f, Schicklichkeit (de) f, Anständigkeit (de) f, guter Ton m, Dekorum (de) n
• Greek: ευπρέπεια (el) f (efprépeia)

  Ancient: εὐσχημοσύνη f (euskhēmosúnē)

• Hungarian: illem (hu), illendőség (hu), tisztesség (hu)
• Italian: decoro (it) m
• Japanese: 礼儀 (ja) (れいぎ, reigi)), 端正さ (ja) (たんせいさ, tansei-sa), 礼儀正しさ (ja) (れいぎただしさ, reigi tadashisa)
• Latin: decōrum n
• Manx: beasaght f
• Polish: decorum (pl) n, dekorum n
• Portuguese: decoro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਤਮੀਜ਼ f (tamīz)
• Romanian: cuviință (ro), cădere (ro), decență (ro)
• Russian: благопристо́йность (ru) f (blagopristójnostʹ), деко́рум (ru) m (dɛkórum) (literary), прили́чие (ru) n (prilíčije), благоприли́чие (ru) n (blagoprilíčije)
• Spanish: decoro (es) m, pundonor (es) m

a convention of social behavior

• Bulgarian: етикет (bg) m (etiket)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禮儀／礼仪 (zh) (lǐyí)

• Finnish: etiketti (fi)
• German: Anstandsregel (de) f, Anstandsregeln (de) pl, Konventionen (de) pl, Konvention (de) f, Benimmregel f
• Hungarian: illemszabály (hu), szokás (hu), konvenció (hu)
• Japanese: 礼儀作法 (れいぎさほう, reigi sahō), 礼儀 (ja) (れいぎ, reigi)
• Russian: этике́т (ru) m (etikét), пра́вила поведе́ния n pl (právila povedénija)

Anagrams

• Cudmore

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /deˈkoː.rum/, [d̪ɛˈkoːrʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /deˈko.rum/, [d̪eˈkɔːrum]

Etymology 1

Noun use of the neuter form of decōrus (“becoming, fitting, proper”).

Noun

decōrum n (genitive decōrī); second declension

1. seemliness, propriety

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	decōrum	decōra
Genitive	decōrī	decōrōrum
Dative	decōrō	decōrīs
Accusative	decōrum	decōra
Ablative	decōrō	decōrīs
Vocative	decōrum	decōra

Descendants

• → Catalan: decor, decòrum
• → English: decorum
• → French: décorum
• → Galician: decoro
• → Italian: decoro
• → Occitan: decòr
• → Piedmontese: decòr
• → Portuguese: decoro
• → Spanish: decoro

References

• “decorum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• decorum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

decōrum

1. inflection of decōrus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

Noun

decōrum

1. genitive plural of decor

Polish

Alternative forms

• dekorum

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin decōrum. Doublet of dekoracja and dekorować.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛˈkɔ.rum/
• Rhymes: -ɔrum
• Syllabification: de‧co‧rum

Noun

decorum n

1. (literature) decorum (principle of classical rhetoric, poetry, and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject)
2. (anthropology) decorum (appropriate social behavior; propriety)

Declension

Declension of decorum

	singular	plural
nominative	decorum	decora
genitive	decorum	decorów
dative	decorum	decorom
accusative	decorum	decora
instrumental	decorum	decorami
locative	decorum	decorach
vocative	decorum	decora

Further reading

• decorum in Polish dictionaries at PWN