urgent

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French urgent (“pressing, impelling”), from Latin urgēns, from urgēre (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Equivalent to urge +‎ -ent. Related to German würgen (“to strangle”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string, tighten, constrict”), Russian (poetic) отверза́ть (otverzátʹ, “to open”, literally “to untie”), Polish otwierać (“to open”)) and English worry, wring, wreak, wreck.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɜː.d͡ʒənt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɝ.d͡ʒənt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ur‧gent
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒənt

Adjective

urgent (comparative more urgent, superlative most urgent)

1. Requiring immediate attention.

   Synonyms: pressing, needly, clamant

   An urgent appeal was sent out for assistance.

2. Of people: insistent, solicitous.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus XII::

     The Egyptians were vrgent vpon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste.

   • c. 1794, Jane Austen, “[Lady Susan.]”, in J[ames] E[dward] Austen[-]Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen: […] to which is Added Lady Susan and Fragments of Two Other Unfinished Tales by Miss Austen, 2nd edition, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], published 1871, →OCLC:

     My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me to prolong my stay […] .

Usage notes

The primary meaning of urgent is as a description of a pressing need. Especially in journalistic contexts, it is sometimes used by transference to describe the thing needed, or to mean "happening very soon", which some deem erroneous.

Derived terms

• nonurgent
• urgency
• urgent care
• urgently

Related terms

• urge

Translations

requiring immediate attention

Arabic: مُسْتَعْجِل (mustaʕjil) Armenian: շտապ (hy) (štap) Azerbaijani: təcili (az) Belarusian: тэрміно́вы (terminóvy), пі́льны (pílʹny) Bulgarian: сро́чен (bg) (sróčen), спе́шен (bg) (spéšen), неотложен (bg) (neotložen) Catalan: urgent (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 緊急 / 紧急 (zh) (jǐnjí), 緊迫 / 紧迫 (zh) (jǐnpò), 急迫 (zh) (jípò) Czech: naléhavý (cs) m, urgentní (cs) Danish: påtrængende, presserende (da), uopsættelig Dutch: dringend (nl) Esperanto: urĝa Finnish: kiireellinen (fi) French: urgent (fr) Galician: urxente German: dringend (de), dringlich (de), eilig (de) Greek: επείγων (el) (epeígon) Hebrew: דחוף (dakhúf) Hungarian: sürgős (hu) Ido: urjanta (io) Indonesian: mendesak (id) Ingrian: hätähiin Interlingua: urgente Irish: práinneach Italian: urgente (it) Japanese: 緊急の (ja) (きんきゅうの, kinkyū no), 急を要する (きゅうをようする, kyū o yō-suru) Korean: 긴급한 (ko) (gin'geuphan) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: lezgîn (ku) Latin: instans Macedonian: и́тен (íten), сро́чен (sróčen), прек (prek), а́кутен (ákuten), го́рлив (górliv) Maori: nonoi, kōhukihuki Plautdietsch: drinjent Polish: pilny (pl) m Portuguese: urgente (pt) Russian: сро́чный (ru) (sróčnyj), э́кстренный (ru) (ékstrennyj), неотло́жный (ru) (neotlóžnyj), спе́шный (ru) (spéšnyj) Scottish Gaelic: faochnach Serbo-Croatian: hitan (sh) m Slovak: naliehavý Spanish: urgente (es), acuciante (es), apremiante (es) Swedish: brådskande (sv) Telugu: అత్యవసరం (atyavasaraṁ) Thai: ด่วน (th) (dùuan) Turkish: ivedi (tr), acil (tr), şaşılınç Ukrainian: терміно́вий (terminóvyj), спі́шний (uk) (spíšnyj), пи́льний (pýlʹnyj), нега́йний (nehájnyj) Yiddish: אײַליק (aylik)

Anagrams

• Gunter, gunter, gurnet

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin urgentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [urˈʒen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [urˈʒent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [uɾˈd͡ʒent]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

urgent m or f (masculine and feminine plural urgents)

1. urgent

Derived terms

• urgentment

Related terms

• urgència
• urgir

Further reading

• “urgent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “urgent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “urgent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “urgent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French urgent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʏrˈɣɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ur‧gent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Adjective

urgent (comparative urgenter, superlative urgentst)

1. urgent

   Synonym: dringend

Declension

Declension of urgent
uninflected	urgent
inflected	urgente
comparative	urgenter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		urgent	urgenter	het urgentst het urgentste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	urgente	urgentere	urgentste
	n. sing.	urgent	urgenter	urgentste
	plural	urgente	urgentere	urgentste
definite		urgente	urgentere	urgentste
partitive		urgents	urgenters	—

Related terms

• urgentie

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “urgent”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin urgentem, present participle of urgeō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yʁ.ʒɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adjective

urgent (feminine urgente, masculine plural urgents, feminine plural urgentes)

1. urgent

Derived terms

• urgentiste
• urgentologie
• urgentologiste
• urgentologue

Related terms

• urgence
• urger

See also

• pressé

Further reading

• “urgent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈʊr.ɡɛnt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈur.d͡ʒen̪t̪]

Verb

urgent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of urgeō

Piedmontese

Alternative forms

• ürgent

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yrˈd͡ʒɛŋt/

Adjective

urgent

1. urgent

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French urgent, from Latin urgens.

Adjective

urgent m or n (feminine singular urgentă, masculine plural urgenți, feminine and neuter plural urgente)

1. urgent

Declension

Declension of urgent

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	urgent		urgentă		urgenți	urgente
	definite	urgentul		urgenta		urgenții	urgentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	urgent		urgente		urgenți	urgente
	definite	urgentului		urgentei		urgenților	urgentelor