irenic

English

WOTD – 21 September 2023

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εἰρηνικός (eirēnikós, “characterized by peace, peaceful”) + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Εἰρηνικός (Eirēnikós) is derived from εἰρήνη (eirḗnē, “peace”)^[1] (possibly from εἴρω (eírō, “to fasten together”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“(verb) to bind, tie together; (noun) thread”)), or εἴρω (eírō, “to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”))) + -ῐκός (-ikós, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /aɪˈɹiːnɪk/, /-ˈɹɛ-/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /aɪˈɹinɪk/, /-ˈɹɛ-/
Rhymes: -iːnɪk, -ɛnɪk
Hyphenation: iren‧ic

Adjective

irenic (comparative more irenic, superlative most irenic)

(chiefly theology) Promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes; conciliatory, non-confrontational, peaceful.
Synonyms: irenical, nonpolemic, nonpolemical, pacific

Antonyms: contentious, disputatious, polemic, polemical, unirenic; see also Thesaurus:quarrelsome
- 1989 [1830 October 30], Søren Kierkegaard, translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:
  Plato and the Athenians must have felt almost as uncomfortable with Xenophon's irenic intervention as one feels at times in an argument when—just as the point in dispute, precisely by being brought to a head, begins to be interesting—a helpful third party kindly takes it upon himself to reconcile the disputants, to take the whole matter back to a triviality
- 2001 November 30, Hywel Williams, “God the state-builder”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-05-06:
  The idea that the Jews of the region are not genetically distinct from other peoples of the area should be an irenic insight.
- 2002, Colin Jones, “An Enlightening Age”, in The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715–99, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 199:
  The philosophes contrasted their own irenic calls for tolerance with the church's historical record as the perennial source of cruelty and fanaticism.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 343:
  The current comity between the United States and China, which have little in common except a river of manufactured goods in one direction and dollars in the other, is a recent reminder of the irenic effects of trade.

Alternative forms

eirenic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

promoting or fitted to promote peace or peacemaking, especially over disputes — see also conciliatory

Bulgarian: миротворен (bg) (mirotvoren)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 和平的 (hépíngde)
Dutch: irenisch (nl), vredelievend (nl)
French: irénique (fr) m or f
Italian: irenico (it) m
Macedonian: миро́творен (mirótvoren)
Spanish: irénico
Welsh: heddychol

References

^ “irenic, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “irenic, adj. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

ricine

[1] “irenic, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “irenic, adj. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[1]