polite

See also: Polite, polité, and politè

English

Etymology

From Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“I polish, smooth”); see polish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlaɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Adjective

polite (comparative politer or more polite, superlative politest or most polite)

1. Well-mannered, civilized.

   It's not polite to use a mobile phone in a restaurant.

   Try and be polite to Auntie Maria for once.

   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst:

     He marries, bows at court, and grows polite.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

2. (obsolete) Smooth, polished, burnished.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     rays of light […] falling on […] a polite surface

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:polite

Antonyms

• impolite
• rude

Derived terms

• nonpolite
• overpolite
• over-polite
• polite fiction
• politeful
• polite literature
• politely
• politeness
• polite notice
• polite society
• politesome
• superpolite
• unpolite

Related terms

• polish

Translations

well-mannered

Afrikaans: beleefd Albanian: i sjellshëm (sq) Arabic: أَدِيب (ʔadīb), مُؤَدَّب (muʔaddab) Armenian: քաղաքավարի (hy) (kʻaġakʻavari) Azerbaijani: nəzakətli Bashkir: әҙәпле (əźəple), ихтирамлы (ixtiramlı) Belarusian: ве́тлівы (be) (vjétlivy) Breton: seven (br) Bulgarian: учти́в (bg) (učtív), ве́жлив (bg) (véžliv) Burmese: မွန်ရည် (my) (mwanrany), ယဉ်ကျေ (yanykye), ညင်သာ (my) (nyangsa) Catalan: cortès (ca), educat (ca), polit (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 有禮貌 / 有礼貌 (jau5 lai5 maau6), 斯文 (si1 man4) Mandarin: 有禮貌 / 有礼貌 (zh) (yǒulǐmào), 客氣 / 客气 (zh) (kèqi), 斯文 (zh) (sīwén) Czech: zdvořilý (cs), slušný (cs) Danish: høflig (da) Dutch: beleefd (nl) Esperanto: ĝentila (eo) Estonian: viisakas Finnish: kohtelias (fi) French: poli (fr) Georgian: თავაზიანი (tavaziani) German: höflich (de) Greek: ευγενικός (el) (evgenikós) Hebrew: מְנוּמָס (m'numás) Hindi: सभ्य (hi) (sabhya), विनम्र (hi) (vinamra), शिष्टाचारी (hi) (śiṣṭācārī), सज्जन (hi) (sajjan) Hungarian: udvarias (hu) Icelandic: kurteis (is) Indonesian: sopan (id) Irish: sibhialta, béasach Italian: cortese (it), educato (it) Japanese: 丁寧 (ja) (ていねい, teinei), 礼儀正しい (ja) (れいぎただしい, reigitadashii) Kazakh: әдепті (ädeptı), биязы (biäzy) Khmer: ចេះគួរសម (cheh kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ), គួរសម (kuə sɑɑ mɔɔ) Korean: 공손하다 (ko) (gongsonhada) Kyrgyz: адептүү (ky) (adeptüü), сылык (ky) (sılık) Lao: ສຸພາບ (su phāp) Latin: cōmis (la) Latvian: pieklājīgs Lithuanian: mandagus (lt) Macedonian: учтив (učtiv) Malay: sopan Malayalam: മര്യാദയുള്ള (ml) (maryādayuḷḷa) Mongolian: эелдэг (mn) (ejeldeg) Norman: poli (Jersey) Norwegian: høflig Ottoman Turkish: نازك (nâzik), كبار (kibar), تربیه‌لو (terbiyeli) Persian: مؤدب (fa) (mo'addab) Plautdietsch: heeflich Polish: uprzejmy (pl), grzeczny (pl) Portuguese: educado (pt), polido (pt), cortês (pt) Romanian: politicos (ro) Russian: ве́жливый (ru) (véžlivyj), учти́вый (ru) (učtívyj) Scottish Gaelic: modhail, suairc, cùirteil Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: у̀чтив, уљудан, одгојен Roman: ùčtiv (sh), uljudan (sh), odgojen (sh) Slovak: zdvorilý, slušný Slovene: vljuden (sl) Spanish: cortés (es), educado (es), de buena educación Swedish: hövlig (sv), artig (sv) Tajik: боадаб (boadab), боназокат (bonazokat), мулоим (tg) (muloyim), хушмуомила (xušmuomila), муаддаб (muaddab) Thai: สุภาพ (th) (sù-pâap) Turkish: kibar (tr), nazik (tr) Turkmen: näzik, hoşamaý, edepli Ukrainian: вві́чливий (uk) (vvíčlyvyj), че́мний (čémnyj), ґре́чний (uk) (gréčnyj) Uzbek: odobli (uz), muyolim, xushmuomala (uz), silliq (uz), boadab (uz), adabli (uz), nazokatli (uz) Vietnamese: lịch sự (vi), lễ phép (vi) Walloon: poli (wa) m, oniesse (wa) c

Verb

polite (third-person singular simple present polites, present participle politing, simple past and past participle polited)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To polish; to refine; to render polite.
   • 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC:

     those exercises plied, which polite men's spirits

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “polite”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

• “polite”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “polite”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• piolet, topile

Italian

Adjective

polite f pl

1. feminine plural of polito

Anagrams

• oplite, pilote

Latin

Verb

polīte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of poliō

References

• “polite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “polite”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Spanish

Verb

polite

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of polir combined with te