forgetful

English

Alternative forms

• forgetfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English *forgetful, *forȝetful (suggested by derivative forgetfulnesse, forȝetfulnesse (“forgetfulness”)), equivalent to forget +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fərˈɡɛtfəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

forgetful (comparative more forgetful, superlative most forgetful)

1. Unable to remember things well; liable to forget.
   • 1912, William Sharp, Elizabeth Amelia Sharp, Poems and Dramas, William Heinemann, page 315:

     Nor has Dalua part or mention in the antique legend. Like other ancient things, this divinity hath come secretly upon us in a forgetful time, new and strange and terrible, though his unremembered shadow crossed our way when first we set out on our long travel, in the youth of the world.

2. (mathematics) Dropping some of the input's structure or properties before producing an output.

   a forgetful mapping; a forgetful functor

Derived terms

• forgetful functor
• forgetfully
• forgetfulness
• unforgetful

Translations

liable to forget

Arabic: نَسَّاء (ar) (nassāʔ), نَسِيّ (nasiyy) Bulgarian: забравящ (bg) (zabravjašt), разсеян (bg) (razsejan) Catalan: oblidadís, oblidós Cebuano: bungaw Chinese: Mandarin: 健忘 (zh) (jiànwàng), 丟三落四 / 丢三落四 (zh) (diūsānlàsì) Czech: zapomnětlivý Danish: glemsom (da) Dutch: vergeetachtig (nl) Finnish: huonomuistinen (fi) French: oublieux (fr) Georgian: გულმავიწყი (gulmavic̣q̇i) German: vergesslich (de) Greek: Ancient Greek: λήθᾱργος (lḗthārgos), ἐπιλήσμων (epilḗsmōn) Hindi: भुलक्कड (hi) (bhulakkaḍ) Hungarian: feledékeny (hu) Indonesian: pelupa (id), pikun (id) Irish: dearmadach Italian: smemorato (it) Japanese: 忘れっぽい (ja) (wasureppoi) Kazakh: ұмытқан (ūmytqan) Latin: oblīviōsus, immemor Latvian: aizmāršīgs, aizmirsīgs Maori: wareware, māhungawai Norman: oublieux Norwegian: glemsom Nynorsk: gløymsk, gløymsam Occitan: oblidós Ottoman Turkish: اونوتغان (unutgan) Pannonian Rusyn: забудлїви (zabudljivi) Polish: zapominalski (pl) Portuguese: esquecido (pt), esquecidiço, esquecediço Romanian: uituc (ro) m Romansch: emblidus (Rumantsch Grischun) Russian: забы́вчивый (ru) (zabývčivyj) Spanish: olvidadizo (es), desmemoriado (es), olvidadero (es) (disused) Swedish: glömsk (sv) Turkish: unutkan (tr) Ukrainian: забу́дькуватий (zabúdʹkuvatyj) Urdu: بُھلَکَّڑ (bhulakkaṛ) Uzbek: unutqan (uz) Welsh: anghofus (cy)