Meanings
present singular third person forgives · participle present forgiving · past forgave · participle past forgiven
- transitiveTo pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
Forgive us our trespasses.
2 more examples
Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss.
Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.
- transitiveTo pardon (something); to waive any negative feeling over or retribution for.
... to forgive their crimes.
2021 April 27, Zachary Schrag, The Princeton Guide to Historical Research, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 302 more examples
Forgive these wild and wandering cries, Confusions of a wasted youth; Forgive them where they fail in truth, And in thy wisdom make me wise.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Prologue”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLCWhat? Are we all just supposed to forgive this? This guy messed up in the worst possible way he could! Now we have nothing!
2026 June 19, Gooseworx, “Remember” (1:19 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 9, spoken by Jax (Michael Kovach) - transitiveTo waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.
Forgive a debt, that is, tell a debtor that a repayment of a loan is no longer needed.
1 more example
In several months you’re likely to have a clearer picture on how your state intends to treat your forgiven PPP loan and the deductibility of your business expenses not just for tax year 2020 but also tax year 2021.
2021 February 23, Jeanne Sahadi, “So you got a PPP loan? Here’s what that means for your state taxes”, in CNN Business - intransitiveTo accord forgiveness.
The brave know only how to forgive […] A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.
a. 1768, Laurence Sterne, Joseph's History considered; - Forgiveness of Injuries (sermon) - transitiveTo look past; to look beyond.
The music critic loves the instrumentation of the song so much that he can forgive the confusing lyrics.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*fragebaną“to give away; give up; release; forgive”
- Proto-West Germanic*frageban
- Old Englishforġiefan“to forgive, to give”
- Middle Englishforyiven
- Englishforgive
Alteration (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, forȝiven, from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, to give”), from Proto-West Germanic *frageban, from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- + give (etymologically for- + yive). Cognate with Scots forgeve, forgif, forgie (“to forgive”), West Frisian ferjaan (“to forgive”), Dutch vergeven (“to forgive”), German vergeben (“to forgive”), Icelandic fyrirgefa (“to forgive”), Yiddish פֿאַרגעבן (fargebn, “to forgive”)
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀφίημι, χαρίζομαι
- ἀφίημι (aphíēmi)(''transitive'') to pardon
- χαρίζομαι (kharízomai)(''transitive'') to pardon
Arabic سَامَحَ, غَفَرَ
- سَامَحَ (sāmaḥa)(''transitive'') to pardon
- غَفَرَ (ḡafara)(''transitive'') to pardon
Basque barkatu
- barkatu(''transitive'') to pardon
Bengali ক্ষমা করা
- ক্ষমা করা (khoma kora)(''transitive'') to pardon
Bulgarian проща́вам, простя́
- проща́вам (proštávam)(''transitive'') to pardon
- простя́ (prostjá)(''transitive'') to pardon
- опроща́вам (oproštávam)(''transitive'') to pardon
- опростя́ (oprostjá)(''transitive'') to pardon
Catalan perdonar
- perdonar(''transitive'') to pardon
Chinese Cantonese 原諒 /原谅, 寬恕 /宽恕
- 原諒 /原谅 (jyun⁴ loeng⁶)(''transitive'') to pardon
- 寬恕 /宽恕 (fun¹ syu³)(''transitive'') to pardon
- 饒恕 /饶恕 (jiu⁴ syu³)(''transitive'') to pardon
Chinese Mandarin 原諒 /原谅, 寬恕 /宽恕
- 原諒 /原谅 (yuánliàng)(''transitive'') to pardon
- 寬恕 /宽恕 (kuānshù)(''transitive'') to pardon
- 饒恕 /饶恕 (ráoshù)(''transitive'') to pardon
Czech odpouštět, odpustit
- odpouštět(''transitive'') to pardon
- odpustit(''transitive'') to pardon
Danish tilgive, forlade
- tilgive(''transitive'') to pardon
- forlade(''transitive'') to pardon
Dutch vergeven
- vergeven(''transitive'') to pardon
Esperanto pardoni
- pardoni(''transitive'') to pardon
Estonian andestama, andeks andma
- andestama(''transitive'') to pardon
- andeks andma(''transitive'') to pardon
Finnish antaa anteeksi
- antaa anteeksi(''transitive'') to pardon
French pardonner
- pardonner(''transitive'') to pardon
German verzeihen
- verzeihen(''transitive'') to pardon
Greek συγχωρώ
- συγχωρώ (synchoró)(''transitive'') to pardon
Hebrew סָלַח
- סָלַח (salákh)(''transitive'') to pardon
Hindi माफ़ करना, क्षमा करना
- माफ़ करना (māf karnā)(''transitive'') to pardon
- क्षमा करना (kṣamā karnā)(''transitive'') to pardon
- मुआफ़ करना (muāf karnā)(''transitive'') to pardon
Hungarian megbocsát
- megbocsát(''transitive'') to pardon
Icelandic fyrirgefa
- fyrirgefa(''transitive'') to pardon
Indonesian memaafkan, mengampuni
- memaafkan(''transitive'') to pardon
- mengampuni(''transitive'') to pardon
Irish maith do
- maith do(''transitive'') to pardon
Italian perdonare
- perdonare(''transitive'') to pardon
Japanese 許す, 容赦する
- 許す (yurusu)(''transitive'') to pardon
- 容赦する (yōsha suru)(''transitive'') to pardon
Korean 용서하다
- 용서하다 (yongseohada)(''transitive'') to pardon
Latin ignōscō, veniam do
- ignōscō(''transitive'') to pardon
- veniam do(''transitive'') to pardon
- condōnō(''transitive'') to pardon
- iustificō(''transitive'') to pardon
- redōnō(''transitive'') to pardon
Latvian piedot
- piedot(''transitive'') to pardon
Lithuanian atleisti, dovanoti
- atleisti(''transitive'') to pardon
- dovanoti(''transitive'') to pardon
Malay memaafkan
- memaafkan(''transitive'') to pardon
Māori muru
- muru(''transitive'') to pardon
Norwegian Bokmål tilgi, forlate
- tilgi(''transitive'') to pardon
- forlate(''transitive'') to pardon
Polish przebaczać, przebaczyć
- przebaczać(''transitive'') to pardon
- przebaczyć(''transitive'') to pardon
- odpuszczać(''transitive'') to pardon
- odpuścić(''transitive'') to pardon
- darowywać(''transitive'') to pardon
- darować(''transitive'') to pardon
- wybaczać(''transitive'') to pardon
- wybaczyć(''transitive'') to pardon
Portuguese perdoar, desculpar
- perdoar(''transitive'') to pardon
- desculpar(''transitive'') to pardon
Romanian ierta
- ierta(''transitive'') to pardon
Russian проща́ть, прости́ть
- проща́ть (proščátʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
- прости́ть (prostítʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
- извиня́ть (izvinjátʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
- извини́ть (izvinítʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
- миловать (milovatʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
- помиловать (pomilovatʹ)(''transitive'') to pardon
Scottish Gaelic math
- math(''transitive'') to pardon
Slovak odpúšťať, odpustiť
- odpúšťať(''transitive'') to pardon
- odpustiť(''transitive'') to pardon
Spanish disculpar
- disculpar(''transitive'') to pardon
Swahili -samehe
- -samehe(''transitive'') to pardon
Swedish förlåta
- förlåta(''transitive'') to pardon
Tamil மன்னி
- மன்னி (maṉṉi)(''transitive'') to pardon
Thai ยกโทษให้, ให้อภัย
- ยกโทษให้ (yók tôot hâi)(''transitive'') to pardon
- ให้อภัย (hâi a-pai)(''transitive'') to pardon
- อภัย (à-pai)(''transitive'') to pardon
- ยกโทษ (yók-tôot)(''transitive'') to pardon
Turkish affetmek, bağışlamak
- affetmek(''transitive'') to pardon
- bağışlamak(''transitive'') to pardon
Ukrainian проща́ти, прости́ти
- проща́ти (proščáty)(''transitive'') to pardon
- прости́ти (prostýty)(''transitive'') to pardon
- пробача́ти (probačáty)(''transitive'') to pardon
- проба́чити (probáčyty)(''transitive'') to pardon
Urdu مُعَاف کَرْنا
- مُعَاف کَرْنا (mu'āf karnā)(''transitive'') to pardon
Vietnamese tha thứ, tha
- tha thứ(''transitive'') to pardon
- tha(''transitive'') to pardon
Welsh maddau
- maddau(''transitive'') to pardon
Yiddish פֿאַרגעבן, מוחל זײַן
- פֿאַרגעבן (fargebn)(''transitive'') to pardon
- מוחל זײַן (moykhl zayn)(''transitive'') to pardon
- שענקען (shenken)(''transitive'') to pardon
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with forgive
All rhymes →Cite this entry
forgive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgive
“forgive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgive. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forgive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgive.
Source: forgive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.