forgiveness (n.)

Old English forgiefnes, forgifennys "pardon, forgiveness, indulgence," from past participle of forgifan (see forgive) + -ness. Contracted from *forgiven-ness. Middle English had also forgift (early 14c.).

Entries linking to forgiveness

forgive (v.)

Old English forgiefan "give, grant, allow; remit (a debt), pardon (an offense)," also "give up" and "give in marriage" (past tense forgeaf, past participle forgifen); from for-, here probably "completely," + giefan "to give" (from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive").

The sense of "to give up desire or power to punish" (late Old English) is from use of such a compound as a Germanic loan-translation of Vulgar Latin *perdonare (Old Saxon fargeban, Dutch vergeven, German vergeben "to forgive," Gothic fragiban "to grant;" and see pardon (n.)). Related: Forgave; forgiven; forgiving.

-ness

word-forming element denoting action, quality, or state, attached to an adjective or past participle to form an abstract noun, from Old English -nes(s), from Proto-Germanic *in-assu- (cognates: Old Saxon -nissi, Middle Dutch -nisse, Dutch -nis, Old High German -nissa, German -nis, Gothic -inassus), from *-in-, originally belonging to the noun stem, + *-assu-, abstract noun suffix, probably from the same root as Latin -tudo (see -tude).

Share forgiveness

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness">Etymology of forgiveness by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of forgiveness. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of forgiveness,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of forgiveness.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of forgiveness.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/forgiveness (accessed $(datetime)).

Definitions of forgiveness

forgiveness (n.)

compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive;

forgiveness (n.)

the act of excusing a mistake or offense;

Synonyms: pardon

From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near forgiveness

forgetful

forget-me-not

forgettable

forgivable

forgive

forgiveness

forgiving

forgo

forgotten

fork

forked