genteel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /d͡ʒɛnˈtiːl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French gentil (“stylish, graceful, pleasing”),^[2][3][4][5] from Old French gentil (“high-born, noble”),^[3][4] from Latin gentīlis (“of the same clan”), from gēns (“clan, race”).^[6] The same French word had earlier been borrowed as gentle;^[2][3][4][7] the later borrowing kept the French pronunciation and stress, which set it apart from gentile.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of dress, dwellings or food: stylish, fashionably elegant (1599 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster), at first in the spelling gentile.^[9][3][5][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century it meant belonging to the gentry (1628),^[9] suited to the station of a gentleman or gentlewoman (1602),^[9] and polished or well-bred.^[8][9] It is now often used with a sarcastic or half-contemptuous note;^[9][10] Thackeray's shabby-genteel describes those who keep up the appearance of gentility on little means.^[10] The modern sense is of an affected, prudish refinement.^[2][5][11] Weekley notes that jaunty shows a still closer imitation of the French pronunciation.^[10]

Timeline

• 1599 – stylish, fashionably elegant.^[9][3][5]
• 1602 – befitting a gentleman or gentlewoman.^[9]
• 1628 – belonging to the gentry.^[9]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Refined in manner; well-bred and polite.
2. Free from vulgarity or rudeness.
3. Elegant or stylish; of or suited to the gentry or polite society.
4. Striving to keep up an appearance of refinement and respectability; marked by affected or prudish refinement.

Word family

• genteelly
• genteelness
• pseudogenteel
• shabby-genteel
• ungenteel

Related words

• gentleman
• gentle
• gentile
• jaunty
• gentry
• gentility

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins