charitable

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtʃær.ɪ.tə.bəl/, US /ˈtʃer.ɪ.t̬ə.bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English charitable, borrowed from Old French charitable, from charité (“charity”) (see charity).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Showing Christian love of God and man: about 1200 in Etymonline, 1340 in the OED.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Tender-hearted or kindly is an obsolete sense of about 1386.^[5] Generous to the poor is from about 1400,^[2][5] and connected with an object of charity, as a charitable trust, from 1597.^[5] Inclined to judge others favourably is from the 1620s.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – showing Christian love.^[2]
• c. 1386 – kindly (obsolete).^[5]
• c. 1400 – generous to the poor.^[2][5]
• 1597 – devoted to charity.^[5]
• 1620s – lenient in judgement.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Generous in giving money or help to people in need.
2. Kind or lenient in judging others.
3. Of, for or concerned with charity: a charitable organization.

Word family

• charitableness
• charitably
• noncharitable
• overcharitable
• pseudocharitable
• uncharitable
• charitable trust

Related words

• charity
• cherish
• caress

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press