forgiveness

English

Etymology

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English forġiefnes, equivalent to forgive +‎ -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚˈɡɪvnəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɡɪvnəs/
• Hyphenation: for‧give‧ness

Noun

forgiveness (usually uncountable, plural forgivenesses)

1. The action of forgiving.
   • 1931, Mahatma Gandhi, Young India

     The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

   • 2014, Carter, Jimmy, “Full Prisons and Legal Killing”, in A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power‎^[1], Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 39:

     Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and misinterpreting Holy Scriptures and numerous examples of mercy. We remember God’s forgiveness of Cain, who killed Abel, and the adulterer King David, who arranged the killing of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, his lover.

   He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop.

2. Readiness to forgive.

Synonyms

• (action of forgiving): remission
• (readiness to forgive): mercy

Derived terms

• it's better to ask forgiveness than permission
• it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission

 

Translations

the action of forgiving

• Albanian: falje (sq) f
• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: مَغْفِرَة‎ f (maḡfira), غُفْرَان‎ m (ḡufrān), مُسَامَحَة‎ f (musāmaḥa), عَفْو‎ (ar) m (ʕafw)
• Armenian: ներում (hy) (nerum)
• Aromanian: ljirtari f, ljirtãciuni f
• Azerbaijani: əfv (az), bağışlama, bağışlanma
• Belarusian: прабачэ́нне n (prabačénnje)
• Bengali: মাগফিরাত (bn) (magfirat)
• Bulgarian: опроще́ние (bg) n (oprošténie), про́шка (bg) f (próška), извине́ние (bg) n (izvinénie)
• Burmese: ခွင့်လွှတ်ခြင်း (hkwang.hlwathkrang:)
• Cebuano: kapasayloan
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 饒恕／饶恕 (zh) (ráoshù), 寬恕／宽恕 (zh) (kuānshù)

• Czech: odpuštění (cs) n
• Danish: tilgivelse (da) c, eftergivelse c
• Dutch: vergeving (nl) f, vergiffenis (nl) f
• Esperanto: pardono
• Estonian: andeksand, andeksandmine
• Finnish: anteeksianto (fi), anteeksi antaminen; anteeksiantamus (religious)
• French: pardon (fr) m
• Georgian: შენდობა (šendoba), პატიება (ṗaṭieba)
• German: Verzeihung (de) f, Vergebung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄 n (aflēt)
• Greek: συγχώρεση (el) f (synchóresi), συγγνώμη (el) f (syngnómi)

  Ancient Greek: ἄφεσις f (áphesis)

• Hebrew: סְלִיחָה‎ (he) f (slikhá)
• Hindi: क्षमा (hi) f (kṣamā), माफ़ी f (māfī)
• Hungarian: megbocsátás (hu)
• Irish: maitheamh m
• Italian: perdono (it) m
• Japanese: 容赦 (ja) (ようしゃ, yōsha)
• Kazakh: кешірім (kk) (keşırım)
• Korean: 용서(容恕) (ko) (yongseo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لێبوردن‎ (lêburdin)

• Kyrgyz: кечирүү (keçirüü)
• Lao: ການໃຫ້ອະໄພ (kān hai ʼa phai)
• Latin: venia f, remissio f
• Latvian: piedošana f
• Lithuanian: atleidimas m
• Macedonian: прошка f (proška), извинение n (izvinenie)
• Malagasy: Famelana
• Manx: maih, maihnys m
• Maori: murunga, murunga hara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilgivelse m

• Old English: forġiefnes f
• Persian: بخشش‎ (fa) (baxšeš), گذشت‎ (fa) (gozašt), معافی‎ (fa) (mo'âfi)
• Polish: wybaczenie (pl) n, przebaczenie (pl) n, odpuszczenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: perdão (pt) m
• Romanian: iertare (ro) f, scuză (ro) f, pardon (ro) n
• Russian: проще́ние (ru) n (proščénije), извине́ние (ru) n (izvinénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опроште́ње n, извиње́ње n

  Roman: oprošténje (sh), izvinjénje (sh) n

• Slovak: odpustenie n
• Slovene: odpuščanje n
• Spanish: perdón (es) m
• Swahili: ghofira
• Swedish: förlåtelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: kapatawaran (tl)
• Tajik: бахшиш (tg) (baxšiš), гузашт (guzašt)
• Thai: อโหสิกรรม (à-hǒo-sì-gam), การให้อภัย (gaan-hâi-à-pai)
• Tocharian B: kṣānti
• Turkish: af (tr), bağışlama (tr)
• Ukrainian: проще́ння n (proščénnja), проба́чення n (probáčennja)
• Urdu: مُعَافِی‎ f (mu'āfī)
• Uzbek: kechirish, kechirim (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự tha thứ (vi)
• Volapük: pard (vo)

readiness to forgive

• Danish: barmhjertighed c, villighed til at tilgive
• Dutch: vergevingsgezindheid (nl)
• Finnish: anteeksiantavaisuus
• German: Versöhnlichkeit f, Nachsicht (de) f
• Russian: снисходи́тельность (ru) f (snisxodítelʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: misericordia (es) f

References

• forgiveness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913