pardon

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English pardoun, borrowed from Old French pardon (“forgiveness, indulgence”) (Anglo-Norman pardun), from the verb pardoner (“to grant, forgive”),^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin perdōnō (“to grant, remit”),^[2][5][4] formed from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + dōnō (“to give”), from dōnum (“gift”).^[6][3][4] The AHD calls the Latin verb Vulgar Latin, with the sense "to give wholeheartedly",^[6] and Merriam-Webster Late Latin.^[7] Weekley and Dictionary.com suggest that it translated a Germanic verb meaning "to forgive", Old High German forgeben.^[8][9] The verb pardonen is recorded in 1433, from the French verb.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Roman Catholic Church, the remission of punishment still due for a sin, an indulgence: about 1300.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used it for the forgiveness of sins (about 1390) and for a document granting an indulgence;^[2] his Pardoner is one of the clergy licensed to sell them.^[10] Gower has the general sense, the passing over of an offence, before 1393.^[2] In law it is a formal release from the penalties of a crime from about 1425, in Lydgate, and the document that grants it from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.^[2] The polite excusing of a small fault appears in the 16th century.^[10][2] I beg your pardon dates from the late 17th century, and pardon alone, meaning "excuse me" or "please repeat that", from the mid-19th century.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – an indulgence (Roman Catholic Church).^[2]
• c. 1390 – forgiveness of sin (Chaucer).^[2]
• a1393 – forgiveness of an offence (Gower).^[2]
• c. 1425 – legal remission of a penalty.^[2]
• 1433 – the verb pardonen.^[3]
• 1548 – courteous excusing of a minor fault.^[2]
• late 17th century – I beg your pardon.^[11]
• mid-19th century – pardon? for "excuse me".^[11]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To release a person from the penalty of an offence.
2. To let an offence pass without punishment; forgive.
3. To excuse politely: pardon the interruption.

Noun

1. Forgiveness for an offence or a discourtesy.
2. An official release from the legal penalties of a crime, or the document that grants it.
3. (Roman Catholic Church) An indulgence.

Interjection

1. Used to apologise, or to ask someone to repeat what they said.

Word family

• pardonable
• pardonably
• pardoner
• unpardonable

Related words

• donation
• donor
• condone
• forgive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press