diligent

English

Plate 1 of classical virtues: Diligence. She is holding a whip and spurs, signifying a drive to steadfastly move forward with one's means.

Etymology

From Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin diligens (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of diligere (“to love, esteem much, literally to choose, select”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + legere (“to choose”); see elect and select.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

diligent (comparative more diligent, superlative most diligent)

1. Performing with industrious concentration; hard-working and focused.

   Scientists are very diligent in their work.

Alternative forms

• deligent (archaic)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:industrious

Derived terms

• diligently

Related terms

• diligence

Translations

hard-working and focused

• Arabic: مُجْتَهِد‎ (ar) (mujtahid)
• Armenian: աշխատասեր (hy) (ašxataser)
• Bashkir: тырыш (tïrïš), егәрле (yegärle), эшсән (ešsän)
• Bulgarian: прилежен (bg) (priležen), усърден (bg) (usǎrden), старателен (bg) (staratelen)
• Catalan: diligent
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刻苦 (zh) (kèkǔ), 耐勞 (zh), 耐劳 (zh) (nàiláo), 努力 (zh) (nǔlì), 勤奮 (zh), 勤奋 (zh) (qínfèn), 勤勞 (zh), 勤劳 (zh) (qínláo), 勤勉 (zh) (qínmiǎn)

• Czech: pilný m
• Danish: flittig, ihærdig, arbejdsom
• Dutch: ijverig (nl), vlijtig (nl), toegewijd (nl)
• Esperanto: diligenta (eo)
• Faroese: íðin, dúgligur, arbeiðssamur
• Finnish: tunnollinen (fi), huolellinen (fi)
• French: industrieux (fr), diligent (fr)
• Galician: dilixente
• Georgian: შრომისმოყვარე (šromismoq̇vare), ბეჯითი (beǯiti)
• German: fleißig (de), arbeitsam (de), eifrig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σπουδαῖος (spoudaîos)

• Hebrew: חָרוּץ‎ (he)
• Hindi: मेहनती (hi) (mehnatī)
• Hungarian: szorgalmas (hu), igyekvő (hu)
• Ido: diligenta (io)
• Indonesian: rajin (id)

• Interlingua: diligente
• Italian: diligente (it)
• Japanese: 勤勉 (ja) (きんべん, kinben)
• Khmer: លំអោត (lum’aot), ស្រវាស្រទេញ (km) (srɑvaa sraa tīɲ), ឱហាត (km) (aohaat)
• Latin: sēdulus, industrius
• Latvian: centīgs, cītīgs, uzcītīgs
• Maori: urupū
• Mongolian: хичээнгүй (mn) (hičeengüj)
• Norwegian: flittig, iherdig (no)

  Bokmål: arbeidsom (no)

  Nynorsk: arbeidsam

• Polish: pilny (pl) m
• Portuguese: diligente (pt)
• Romanian: harnic (ro), diligent (ro)
• Russian: приле́жный (ru) (priléžnyj), усе́рдный (ru) (usérdnyj), трудолюби́вый (ru) (trudoljubívyj), работя́щий (ru) (rabotjáščij), стара́тельный (ru) (starátelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèanadach
• Slovak: pilný, usilovný, pracovitý
• Spanish: diligente (es)
• Swedish: flitig (sv), ihärdig (sv), arbetsam (sv)
• Thai: ขยัน (th) (kà-yǎn)
• Urdu: میہنتی‎ (mehnatī)
• Vietnamese: siêng năng (vi), chăm chỉ (vi)
• Welsh: diwyd (cy)

Further reading

• diligent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• diligent in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

---

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin diligens.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /di.liˈʒent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /di.liˈʒen/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /di.liˈd͡ʒent/

Adjective

diligent (masculine and feminine plural diligents)

1. diligent (performing with intense concentration)

Derived terms

• diligentment

Related terms

• diligència

Further reading

• “diligent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

---

French

Etymology

From Latin diligens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.li.ʒɑ̃/

Adjective

diligent (feminine singular diligente, masculine plural diligents, feminine plural diligentes)

1. diligent (performing with intense concentration)

Derived terms

• diligemment

Related terms

• diligence

Further reading

• “diligent” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Latin

Verb

dīligent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of dīligō