politeness

English

Etymology

polite +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlaɪtnəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧lite‧ness

Noun

politeness (usually uncountable, plural politenesses)

1. The quality of being polite.
2. An act of politeness.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 145:

     These politenesses left Miss Marley floundering for initiative, holding Jasper and being solemnly inspected by Podson, who clearly depended on her the convention of an afternoon call.

Synonyms

• (the act of being polite): affability, civility, courtesy, courtliness, etiquette

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “the act of being polite”): impoliteness, rudeness

Translations

act of being polite

• Albanian: mirësjellje (sq) f
• Arabic: أَدَب (ar) m (ʔadab)
• Armenian: քաղաքավարություն (hy) (kʻaġakʻavarutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: nəzakət (az)
• Belarusian: ве́тлівасць f (vjétlivascʹ), ве́тласць f (vjétlascʹ)
• Bulgarian: учти́вост (bg) f (učtívost), ве́жливост (bg) f (véžlivost)
• Burmese: ယဉ်ကျေးမှု (my) (yanykye:hmu.)
• Catalan: educació (ca) cortesia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 禮貌／礼貌 (lai⁵ maau⁶)

  Mandarin: 禮貌／礼貌 (zh) (lǐmào), 客氣／客气 (zh) (kèqi, kèqì)

• Czech: zdvořilost (cs) f
• Danish: høflighed c
• Dutch: beleefdheid (nl) f, hoffelijkheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĝentilaĵo
• Estonian: viisakus
• Finnish: kohteliaisuus (fi)
• French: politesse (fr) f
• Georgian: ზრდილობა (zrdiloba)
• German: Höflichkeit (de) f
• Greek: ευγένεια (el) f (evgéneia)
• Hebrew: נִימוּס (he) m (nimús), אֲדִיבוּת (he) f (adivút)
• Hindi: शिष्टता (hi) f (śiṣṭatā), अदब (hi) m (adab), नज़ाकत f (nazākat), सभ्यता (hi) f (sabhyatā)
• Hungarian: udvariasság (hu)
• Icelandic: kurteisi (is) n
• Italian: cortesia (it) f
• Japanese: 丁寧さ (ja) (ていねいさ, teineisa), 礼儀正しさ (ja) (れいぎただしさ, reigitadashisa)
• Kazakh: әдептілік (ädeptılık), сыпайылық (sypaiylyq)
• Korean: 예의 (ko) (yeui), 례의 (ko) (ryeui) (North Korea), 공손 (ko) (gongson), 공손함 (ko) (gongsonham)
• Kyrgyz: адептүүлүк (ky) (adeptüülük), сылыктык (ky) (sılıktık)
• Latin: cōmitās f
• Latvian: pieklājība f
• Lithuanian: mandagumas m
• Luxembourgish: Héiflechkeet f
• Macedonian: учтивост f (učtivost)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høflighet (no) m or f

• Persian: ادب (fa) (adab), نزاکت (fa) (nezâkat)
• Polish: uprzejmość (pl) f, grzeczność (pl) f, kurtuazja (pl) f
• Portuguese: educação (pt) f, polidez (pt) f
• Romanian: politețe (ro) f, amabilitate (ro) f, civilitate f
• Russian: ве́жливость (ru) f (véžlivostʹ), учти́вость (ru) f (učtívostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: modh m or f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̀људно̄ст f, у̀чтиво̄ст f

  Roman: ùljudnōst (sh) f, ùčtivōst (sh) f

• Slovak: zdvorilosť f
• Slovene: vljudnost (sl) f
• Spanish: educación (es), cortesía (es) f
• Swedish: artighet (sv) c, hövlighet (sv) c
• Tajik: одоб (tg) (odob), назокат (nazokat)
• Telugu: సభ్యత (te) (sabhyata)
• Thai: ความสุภาพ (th) (kwaam-sù-pâap)
• Turkish: nezaket (tr), incelik (tr), kibarlık (tr)
• Turkmen: sypaýçylyk
• Ukrainian: вві́чливість (uk) f (vvíčlyvistʹ), че́мність f (čémnistʹ), ґре́чність (uk) f (gréčnistʹ)
• Urdu: ادب m (adab), نزاکت f (nazākat)
• Uzbek: xushmuomalalik (uz), adab (uz), nazokat (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự lịch sự (vi)