pardon me

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Phrase

pardon me

1. (idiomatic) Sorry; said as an apology.

   Pardon me for stepping on your foot.

2. (idiomatic) Polite expression used to soften a contradiction.

   Pardon me, but that is not true.

3. (idiomatic, Canada, US) Polite expression to ask someone to repeat an utterance.

   Pardon me, I didn't hear you.

Synonyms

• (polite expression to get someone to repeat): come again, pardon, what; see also Thesaurus:say again

Related terms

• excuse me
• pardon

Translations

sorry, as an apology

• American Sign Language: BentB@BaseHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross BentB@TipHand-PalmDown-OpenB@CenterSternumhigh-UlnarAcross
• Arabic: عَفْوًا (ʕafwan)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 對不起／对不起 (deoi³ bat¹ hei²) (formal and written), 對唔住／对唔住 (yue) (deoi³ m⁴ zyu⁶), 唔好意思 (m⁴ hou² ji³ si¹)

  Hakka: 敗勢／败势 (phài-se), 斯里麻生 (sṳ̀-li-ma-sén), 對唔住／对唔住 (dui⁴ m² cu⁴), 失禮／失礼 (sṳt-lî)

  Hokkien: 歹勢／歹势 (zh-min-nan) (pháiⁿ-sè, phái-sè), 毋好勢／毋好势 (zh-min-nan) (m̄-hó-sè), 對不住／对不住 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-put-chū), 對不起／对不起 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-put-khí), 失禮／失礼 (zh-min-nan) (sit-lé)

  Mandarin: 對不起／对不起 (zh) (duìbùqǐ), 抱歉 (zh) (bàoqiàn), 不好意思 (zh) (bù hǎoyìsi), 對不住／对不住 (zh) (duìbùzhù)

  Wu: 對勿起／对勿起, 勿好意思 (⁸veq-hau-i-sy)

• Dutch: pardon (nl)
• Finnish: suokaa anteeksi
• French: excusez-moi (fr)
• Galician: perdoe
• German: Entschuldigung (de)
• Greek: συγγνώμη (el) (syngnómi)
• Hebrew: סְלִיחָה (he) f (sliḥá), סְלָח לִי (slaḥ li) (to a male), סִלְחִי לִי (silḥí li) (to a female), סִלְחוּ לִי (silḥú li) (to a group)
• Hungarian: bocsánat (hu), pardon (hu), elnézést (hu)
• Italian: scusami
• Japanese: 御免なさい (ja) (ごめんなさい, gomen nasai)
• Kapampangan: panupaya, po?, ne?
• Korean: 용서하십시요 (yongseohasipsiyo)
• Latin: (said to one person) ignosce mihi, (said to more than one person) ignoscite mihi
• Macedonian: извинете (izvinete), простете (prostete), извини (izvini) (familiar, informal)
• Norwegian: unnskyld meg, om forlatelse
• Polish: pardon (pl)
• Portuguese: perdão (pt), desculpe-me, me desculpa, desculpas (pt), desculpa (pt)
• Russian: прости́те (ru) (prostíte)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wódaj (singular familiar), wódajśo (plural, polite)

• Spanish: discúlpeme
• Swedish: ursäkta mig

polite expression used to soften a contradiction

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: valitettavasti (fi), anteeksi vaan (colloquial)
• French: please add this translation if you can

polite expression to get someone to repeat

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: anteeksi (fi)
• German: wie bitte? (de)
• Greek: ορίστε; (el) (oríste?)
• Hungarian: tessék? (hu)
• Polish: pardon (pl)

Anagrams

• name drop, name-drop, namedrop, pomander