gentil

See also: Gentil

French

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʒɑ̃.ti/
  • audio(file)

Adjective

gentil (feminine singular gentille, masculine plural gentils, feminine plural gentilles)

  1. helpful, kind
  2. pleasant, amiable, nice
  3. attractive, pretty; also derogative, in the sense of superficial, esp. in the arts
  4. (idiomatic) all very well (c'est bien gentil tout ça, mais "that's all very well, but")
  5. well behaved, good (especially but not only about children, in the sense of good boy/girl)
  6. fairly large, nice, tidy

Usage notes

  • The word is sometimes used in derogative senses similar to the way its English equivalents are (e.g. about people considered to be lacking personality), but its positive use is much more common. In classical French it was used as a genuine compliment for social graces, which gave rise to gentilhomme (“gentleman”).

Synonyms

Noun

gentil m (plural gentils)

  1. pagan, heretic
  2. gentile

Further reading

Italian

Adjective

gentil m

  1. Apocopic form of gentile

Old French

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Adjective

gentil m (oblique and nominative feminine singular gentil or gentile)

  1. noble; courteous; courtly

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese gentil, from Latin gentīlis (“belonging to the same family”), from gēns (“clan; tribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ʒẽ.ˈt͡ʃiw/
  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ʒẽ.ˈtɨɫ/
  • Homophone: Gentil
  • Hyphenation: gen‧til

Adjective

gentil m, f (plural gentis, comparable)

  1. gentle; amiable; kind
  2. elegant
  3. gentle; polite; respectful

Synonyms

Antonyms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin gentīlis, from gēns (“Roman clan”).

Adjective

gentil (plural gentiles) (superlative gentilísimo)

  1. kind, nice

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • /ɧaŋˈtiːl/

Adjective

gentil

  1. (somewhat archaic) elegant and generous; posh, stylish; generous
    Det var en utomordentligt gentil middagsbjudning.
    "That was a most elegant dinner party."

Inflection

Inflection of gentil
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular gentil gentilare gentilast
Neuter singular gentilt gentilare gentilast
Plural gentila gentilare gentilast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 gentile gentilare gentilaste
All gentila gentilare gentilaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
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