different between meek vs merciful

English

Etymology

From Middle English meek, meke, meoc, a borrowing from Old Norse mjúkr (“soft; meek”), from Proto-Germanic *meukaz, *m?kaz (“soft; supple”), from Proto-Indo-European *mewg-, *mewk- (“slick, slippery; to slip”).

Cognate with Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk mjuk (“soft”), Norwegian Bokmål myk (“soft”), and Danish myg (“supple”), Dutch muik (“soft, overripe”), dialectal German mauch (“dry and decayed, rotten”), Mauche (“malanders”). Compare also Old English sm?gan (“to slide, slip”), Welsh mwyth (“soft, weak”), Latin ?mung? (“to blow one's nose”), Tocharian A muk- (“to let go, give up”), Lithuanian mùkti (“to slip away from”), Old Church Slavonic ?????? (m??ati, “to chase”), Ancient Greek ???????? (mússomai, “to blow the nose”), Sanskrit ??????? (muñcati, “to release, let loose”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mi?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mik/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Adjective

meek (comparative meeker, superlative meekest)

1. Humble, non-boastful, modest, meager, or self-effacing.
   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:

     Mrs. Wickam was a meek woman...who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else...

2. Submissive, dispirited.
   • 1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street:

     What if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:humble

Derived terms

• meekly
• meekness

Translations

Verb

meek (third-person singular simple present meeks, present participle meeking, simple past and past participle meeked)

1. (US) (of horses) To tame; to break.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English merciful, mercyful, equivalent to mercy +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?s?fl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??s?fl?/
• Hyphenation: mer?ci?ful

Adjective

merciful (comparative more merciful, superlative most merciful)

1. Showing mercy.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.

Synonyms

• ruthful

Antonyms

• merciless
• cruel

Derived terms

• mercifulness

Translations

Anagrams

• crimeful