celibacy

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celibacy

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

cælibacy (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin caelibātus (“celibacy, a single life”), from caelebs (“unmarried”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɛləbəsi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

celibacy (countable and uncountable, plural celibacies)

Abstaining from marriage; the state of being unmarried.
- 1920, American Lutheran Survey‎, volumes 13-14, page 16:
  They came to believe that men, who would live a godly life, must view marriage as a sin and choose a life of celibacy.
- 1970, The Futurist‎, page 42:
  I could document this defense of celibacy. Unmarried women show up very well in all the tests of mental health.
(by extension) Abstinence from sexual relations.

Synonyms

sexlessness

Hypernyms

chastity

Derived terms

Related terms

celibate

Translations

state of being unmarried

Arabic: عُنُوسَة f (ʕunūsa)
Asturian: celibatu m
Belarusian: бясшлю́бнасць f (bjasšljúbnascʹ), цэліба́т m (celibát)
Bulgarian: безбра́чие n (bezbráčie), ергенство n (ergenstvo)
Catalan: celibat m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 獨身 / 独身 (zh) (dúshēn)
Czech: svobodný stav, celibát (cs) m, (without women): bezženství, celibát (cs) m
Danish: cølibat n
Finnish: selibaatti (fi)
French: célibat (fr) m
Galician: celibato (gl) m
German: Zölibat (de) m or n
Greek: αγαμία (el) f (agamía)
Hebrew: פרישות f (prīshūth)
Hungarian: cölibátus (hu)
Irish: aontumha f
Italian: celibato (it) m
Japanese: 独身 (ja) (どくしん, dokushin)
Korean: 독신 (ko) (doksin)
Norwegian: sølibat n
Polish: celibat (pl) m
Portuguese: celibato (pt) m
Romanian: celibat (ro) n
Russian: безбра́чие (ru) n (bezbráčije), целиба́т (ru) m (celibát)
Scottish Gaelic: aontamhachd f
Slovak: celibát m
Spanish: celibato (es) m
Swahili: useja (sw)
Swedish: celibat (sv) n
Thai: การอยู่เป็นโสด
Turkish: bekârlık
Ukrainian: безшлю́бність (uk) f (bezšljúbnistʹ), целіба́т (uk) m (celibát)

abstaining from sexual relations

Bulgarian: сексуа́лно въздържа́ние n (seksuálno vǎzdǎržánie)
Czech: celibát (cs) m
Danish: cølibat n
Finnish: selibaatti (fi)
French: célibat (fr) m
German: Zölibat (de) m or n, Keuschheit (de) f
Greek: αγαμία (el) f (agamía)
Hungarian: cölibátus (hu)
Japanese: 独身 (ja) (どくしん, dokushin)
Maori: takakautanga
Norwegian: sølibat n
Polish: celibat (pl) m
Portuguese: celibato (pt) m
Russian: воздержа́ние (ru) n (vozderžánije), сексуа́льное воздержа́ние n (sɛksuálʹnoje vozderžánije)
Scottish Gaelic: aontamhachd f
Spanish: celibato (es)
Swedish: celibat (sv) n
Turkish: bekârlık

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} fraŭleco
Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} celibato
Slovak: celibát m