patience

See also: Patience

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pacience, from Old French pacience (modern French patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”). Displaced Old English ġeþyld.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pā′shəns
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/

  • Audio (US, Inland Northern American):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɪ̯.ʃəns/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.ʃəns/
• Hyphenation: pa‧tience

Noun

patience (usually uncountable, plural patiences)

2. The quality of being patient.

   Synonyms: forbearance, restraint, (obsolete or rare or regional) thole

   Antonym: impatience

   Musical perfection requires practice and a lot of patience.

   I appreciate the patience with which you've explained it.

   • 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

     The most surprising thing was to discover that each job had its little tricks, peculiarities that had been learned in the experience of years, and one of the really pleasing features was the unlimited patience and kindliness of the chargehands and fitters, who would go to great lengths to teach the budding engineer all they themselves knew.

   • 2023 December 18, “Galactus VS Unicron (Marvel Comics VS Transformers)” (16:59 from the start), in DEATH BATTLE!‎^[1], season 10, episode 16, spoken by Galactus (Wolf Williams):

     I have no patience left. Return, thy dreams. Into the void where none may hear your screams.

4. (chiefly UK) Any of various card games that can be played by one person.

   Synonym: solitaire (US, Canada)

Derived terms

• Chinese patience
• lose patience
• patience dock
• patience is a virtue
• patience of an angel
• patience of a saint
• patience of Job
• patience of Mother Teresa
• test someone's patience
• try someone's patience
• unpatience

Related terms

• passion
• passionate
• passive
• passivity
• patient

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: pasensi

Translations

quality of being patient

• Abkhaz: аҷхара (ačʼxara)
• Akan: aboterɛ
• Albanian: durim (sq) m
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: чыдам (čïdam)

• Arabic: صَبْر (ar) m (ṣabr), تَحَمُّل m (taḥammul)

  Algerian Arabic: بَاصِيصَا (baṣiṣa)

  Chadian Arabic: صبر m (sabur)

  Egyptian Arabic: صبر m (ṣabr)

• Armenian: համբերություն (hy) (hamberutʻyun)
• Asturian: paciencia f
• Azerbaijani: səbir (az), dözüm, hövsələ
• Bashkir: түҙемлек (töðimlik), сабырлыҡ (sabırlıq)
• Belarusian: цярпе́нне n (cjarpjénnje), цярплі́васць f (cjarplívascʹ)
• Bengali: ধৈর্য (bn) (dhōirjo)
• Bulgarian: търпе́ние (bg) n (tărpénie), търпели́вост (bg) f (tărpelívost)
• Burmese: ခန္တီ (my) (hkanti)
• Catalan: paciència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 耐性 (zh) (nàixìng), 忍耐 (zh) (rěnnài)

• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: subira class 9

• Czech: trpělivost (cs) f
• Danish: tålmod n, tålmodighed c
• Dutch: geduld (nl) n
• Esperanto: pacienco
• Estonian: kannatlikkus
• Faroese: tol n
• Finnish: maltti (fi), kärsivällisyys (fi)
• French: patience (fr) f
• Galician: paciencia f
• Georgian: მოთმინება (motmineba)
• German: Geduld (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌼𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 f (laggamōdei), 𐌿𐍃𐌸𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (usþulains)
• Greek: υπομονή (el) f (ypomoní)

  Ancient Greek: μακροθυμία f (makrothumía), ὑπομονή f (hupomonḗ)

• Haitian Creole: pasyans
• Haryanvi: थ्यावस (thyāvas)
• Hebrew: סַבְלָנוּת (he) f (savlanút)
• Hindi: सहन (hi) m (sahan), धैर्य (hi) m (dhairya), सहनशीलता (hi) f (sahnaśīltā), धीरज (hi) m (dhīraj)
• Hungarian: türelem (hu)
• Icelandic: þolinmæði (is) f, biðlund (is) f
• Indonesian: kesabaran (id)
• Irish: foighne
• Italian: pazienza (it) f
• Japanese: 辛抱 (ja) (しんぼう, shinbō), 忍耐 (ja) (にんたい, nintai), 我慢 (ja) (がまん, gaman)
• Kazakh: дегбір (degbir), сабыр (sabır)
• Khmer: ខន្តី (km) (khɑntəy)
• Korean: 참을성 (ko) (chameulseong), 인내(忍耐) (ko) (innae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئارام (ckb) (aram), قنیات (qinyat)

  Northern Kurdish: sebir (ku), bêhnfirehî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: сабырдуулук (sabırduuluk), сабыр (sabır), чыдам (ky) (cıdam), чыдамдуулук (ky) (cıdamduuluk)
• Ladino:

  Hebrew: פאסינסייה f

  Latin: pasiensia f

• Lao: ຄວາມອົດທົນ (khuām ʼot thon)
• Latin: patientia
• Latvian: pacietība f
• Lithuanian: kantrybė f
• Luxembourgish: Gedold f
• Macedonian: трпение n (trpenie), стрпливост f (strplivost)
• Malay: sabar (ms), kesabaran
• Māori: manawanuitanga, manawa
• Middle English: pacience
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тэвчээр (mn) (tevčeer)

• Norman: pâcienche f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tålmodighet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: tolmod n

• Occitan: paciéncia (oc) f
• Old English: ġeþyld
• Oromo: obsa
• Pashto: صبر (ps) m (sabᶕr), حوصله (ps) f (hawselá), زغم (ps) m (zǧam)
• Persian: صبر (fa) (sabr), شکیبائی (fa) (šakibâ'i), حوصله (fa) (howsele), تحمل (fa) (tahammol)
• Piedmontese: passiensa
• Polish: cierpliwość (pl) f
• Portuguese: paciência (pt) f
• Romagnol: pazénzia f, pazenzia f
• Romanian: răbdare (ro) f
• Russian: терпе́ние (ru) n (terpénije), терпели́вость (ru) f (terpelívostʹ)
• Sanskrit: सहन (sa) (sahana), धैर्य (sa) n (dhairya)
• Scottish Gaelic: foighidinn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: krotost f, trpeljivost (sh) f, strpljénje (sh) n, str̀pljivōst (sh) f

• Slovak: trpezlivosť f
• Slovene: potrpežljivost (sl) f
• Spanish: paciencia (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: pasensie
• Swahili: subra (sw), subira (sw), uvumilivu (sw)
• Swedish: tålamod (sv) c
• Tagalog: pasensya (tl)
• Tajik: сабр (tg) (sabr)
• Tatar: сабырлык (tt) (sabırlıq)
• Telugu: ఓర్పు (te) (ōrpu), సహనము (te) (sahanamu)
• Thai: ความอดทน (th) (kwaam-òt-ton)
• Turkish: sabır (tr), faysal (tr), dayanç (tr), çıdam (tr), kudret (tr)
• Turkmen: sabyr
• Ukrainian: терпі́ння n (terpínnja), терпля́чість (uk) f (terpljáčistʹ), терпели́вість f (terpelývistʹ)
• Urdu: سہن (sahan), صبر (ur) m (sabr), تحمل m (tahammul)
• Uyghur: سەۋر (sewr)
• Uzbek: sabr (uz)
• Walloon: pacyince (wa) f
• Welsh: ymaros m, amynedd m, dioddefgarwch m
• Yiddish: געדולד (geduld)
• Yoruba: sùúrù
• Zazaki: sabır, sebır (diq), tehamul n
• Zulu: isineke (zu)

game that can be played by one person

• Belarusian: пасья́нс m (pasʹjáns)
• Bulgarian: пасиа́нс m (pasiáns)
• Catalan: solitari (ca) m
• Czech: pasiáns m
• Dutch: patience (nl) n, mochelen n (Belgium)
• Finnish: pasianssi (fi)
• French: patience (fr) f
• Georgian: პასიანსი (ṗasiansi)
• Greek: πασιέντζα (el) f (pasiéntza)
• Hungarian: pasziánsz (hu)
• Japanese: ソリティア (ja) (soritia)
• Korean: 솔리테어 (solliteeo)
• Macedonian: пасијанс m (pasijans)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kabal m

• Polish: pasjans (pl) m
• Portuguese: paciência (pt) f
• Russian: пасья́нс (ru) m (pasʹjáns)
• Spanish: solitario (es) m
• Swedish: patiens (sv) c
• Tagalog: solitaryo
• Turkish: pasiyans (tr), tektaş, solo test
• Ukrainian: пасья́нс m (pasʹjáns)
• Zazaki: pawen

See also

• clock patience
• garden patience

Further reading

• “patience”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1914), “patience, n.”, in The Century Dictionary […], volumes IV (P–Simulant), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 4328, columns 1–2.
• “patience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “patience, n.”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to XII), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 4328, columns 1–2.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French patience.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paːˈʃɑns/, [paːˈʃɑ̃s]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑns
• Hyphenation: pa‧ti‧en‧ce

Noun

patience n (uncountable, no diminutive)

2. patience, solitaire (game that can be played by one person)

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “patience”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Further reading

• Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “patience”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French patience, from Old French pacience (modern English patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.sjɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Hyphenation: pa‧tience

Noun

patience f (plural patiences)

2. patience (the quality of being patient)

   Antonym: impatience

   Il faut beaucoup de patience pour apprendre une nouvelle langue.

   Learning a new language requires a lot of patience.

Derived terms

• crisser patience
• perdre patience
• prendre son mal en patience

Related terms

• patient

Descendants

• → Dutch: patience (“solitaire (game)”)
• Haitian Creole: pasyans
• → Russian: пасья́нс (pasʹjáns, “solitaire (game)”)

Further reading

• “patience”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Noun

patience

1. alternative form of pacience

Middle French

Alternative forms

• pacience

Etymology

Inherited from Old French pacience, from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”).

Noun

patience f (uncountable)

1. patience (the quality of being patient)

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English pacience, from Old French pacience (modern French patience), from Latin patientia (“suffering; endurance, patience”), from patiens, present active participle of patior (“suffer, experience, wait”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”). Displaced native Old English ġeþyld.

Noun

patience (uncountable)

1. patience (the quality of being patient)
   • 1919, Sir Harry Lauder, Between You and Me‎^[2], New York: The James A. McCann Company, page 259:

     And I’ll be proving it, tae, if ye’ll ha’ patience wi’ me.

     And I’ll prove it, too, if you’ll be patient with me

References

• Eagle, Andy, editor (2026), “patience”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[3]

Further reading

• “patience”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.