gentleman

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of gentle, in its sense noble, and man,^[2][3][4] translating or modelled on Old French gentilz hom (modern French gentilhomme).^[5][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A well-born man, a man of good family: about 1200, perhaps the mid-12th century, in Etymonline;^[2] before 1275 in the OED.^[6] It was also used of Roman patricians and Greek aristocrats.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English it took specific uses (gentleman-usher, gentleman-at-arms), and in England it often meant any man above the rank of a yeoman, sometimes only one entitled to a coat of arms but without a title.^[2][5] From the start it also meant a man whose conduct matched the ideals of chivalry and Christianity (about 1386),^[2][6] and loosely any man of good breeding, courtesy and honour.^[2] In the United States, a man of property not in business or a profession is from 1789.^[2] Eventually, in polite use, it came to mean any man.^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a well-born man.^[2]
• c. 1386 – a chivalrous man.^[6]
• 1425 – a title after a name.^[6]
• 1463 – a gentleman of the royal household.^[6]
• 1789 – a man of property (US).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A courteous, honourable or well-mannered man.
2. (polite) A man: ladies and gentlemen.
3. (historical) A man of good social position, especially one of the landed gentry.
4. A man of wealth and leisure who does not need to work.

Word family

• gentlemanly
• gentlemanlike
• gentlemanlikeness
• gent
• gentleman-at-arms
• gentleman-commoner
• gentleman-pensioner
• country gentleman

Related words

• gentlewoman
• gentle
• gentry
• genteel

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin