different between gentleman vs saint

English

Etymology

Morphologically gentle +? man, calque of French gentilhomme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??n.t?l.m?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): [?d????.??.m?n]
• Hyphenation: gentle?man

Noun

gentleman (plural gentlemen)

1. (chiefly historical) A man of gentle but not noble birth, particularly a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (Britain law) an armiferous man ranking below a knight.
2. Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.
3. (derogatory) An effeminate or oversophisticated man.

   Synonyms: cockney, puss-gentleman, sissy; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man

4. (polite term of address) Any man.

   Synonym: sahib

   Coordinate terms: lady, gentlewoman, (historical) gentlelady

5. (usually historical, sometimes derogatory) An amateur or dabbler in any field, particularly those of independent means.

   Synonym: dilettante
6. (cricket) An amateur player, particularly one whose wealth permits him to forego payment.

   Coordinate terms: professional, (historical) player

Usage notes

• Although gentleman is used in reference to a man and gentlemen is used as a polite form of address to a group of men, it is more common to directly address a single gentleman as sir.
• The singular possesive of the sense "any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man" can appear in ad hoc compounds to describe a polite way of doing something; e.g. a "gentleman's sweep" when a dominant basketball team allowed the opponent one win in a series[1].

Derived terms

Related terms

• gentlewoman
• gentlelady

Descendants

• Chinese Pidgin English: gentleman
• ? Danish: gentleman
• ? Esperanto: ?entlemano
• ? French: gentleman
• ? Georgian: ????????? (?en?lmeni)
• ? Mohegan-Pequot: gundermon
• ? Polish: d?entelmen
• ? Portuguese: gentleman
• ? Spanish: gentleman

Translations

Chinese Pidgin English

Alternative forms

• ??? (Chinese characters)

Etymology

From English gentleman.

Noun

gentleman

1. A respectful term for a person of either sex: gentleman, lady

References

• Gow, W. S. P. (1924) Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 105: “Gentleman: does not always indicate the male sex. e.g. “outside have got two piece gentleman, one belong missee.” (Lunde.)”

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English gentleman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??n.tl?.man/

Noun

gentleman m (plural gentlemen or gentlemans)

1. gentleman, especially an anglophone one

Further reading

• “gentleman” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mélangent

Spanish

Noun

gentleman m (plural gentlemen)

1. British gentleman

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /se?nt/
  • Rhymes: -e?nt
• (UK, as an unstressed, capitalised title) IPA^(key): /s?n(t)/, /s?n(t)/

Etymology 1

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sanctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancire (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English h?lga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).

Noun

saint (plural saints)

1. A person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

   Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed a saint.
2. (figuratively, by extension) A person with positive qualities; one who does good.

   Dorothy Day was a living saint.

   Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!

3. One of the blessed in heaven.
4. (archaic) A holy object.

Synonyms

• (holy person): hallow (obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hallow
• holos
• holy

Etymology 2

From Middle English saynten, seinten, sonten, partly from Anglo-Norman saintir and partly from the noun Middle English seint, seynt (see above).

Verb

saint (third-person singular simple present saints, present participle sainting, simple past and past participle sainted)

1. (transitive) To canonize, to formally recognize someone as a saint.

   Many wish to see Pope John Paul II sainted immediately.

Translations

Further reading

• saint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• saint in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Astin, Insta, Santi, Sinta, Tanis, Tians, antis, insta-, sat in, satin, stain, stian, tians, tisan

French

Etymology

From Latin sanctus (“holy”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophones: sain, sains, saints, sein, seing, seings, seins, ceins, ceint, ceints

Noun

saint m (plural saints, feminine sainte)

1. saint

Adjective

saint (feminine singular sainte, masculine plural saints, feminine plural saintes)

1. saintly (all meanings)

Derived terms

Further reading

• “saint” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• tians

Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

saint f (genitive singular sainte)

1. greed, avarice, covetousness
2. great eagerness, desire

Declension

Synonyms

• cíocras, gabhálacht (“avarice”)

Mutation

Norman

Etymology

From Old French saint, from Latin sanctus (“holy”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

saint m

1. (Jersey) holy

Noun

saint m (plural saints)

1. (Jersey, religion) saint

Old French

Alternative forms

• sanct (rare)
• saent (rare)
• seint (common, chiefly Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Latin sanctus

Noun

saint m (oblique plural sainz or saintz, nominative singular sainz or saintz, nominative plural saint)

1. saint

Declension

Adjective

saint m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sainte)

1. holy
2. pious; devout

Descendants

• ? English: saint
• French: saint
• Norman: saint (Jersey)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sai?nt/

Noun

saint m pl (not mutable)

1. plural of sant