Meanings
patience1
plural patiences
- uncountableusuallyThe quality of being patient.
I appreciate the patience with which you've explained it.
3 more examples
Musical perfection requires practice and a lot of patience.
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.
1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283I have no patience left. Return, thy dreams. Into the void where none may hear your screams.
2023 December 18, “Galactus VS Unicron (Marvel Comics VS Transformers)” (16:59 from the start), in DEATH BATTLE!, season 10, episode 16, spoken by Galactus (Wolf Williams)Synonyms: forbearance, restraint, thole · Antonyms: impatience
Patience2
- A female given name from English.
Meg had named it Patience. "But why?" he had exclaimed, not liking the name at all. "Patience is my favourite virtue," she had replied, "and we can call her Patty for short."
1929, Mazo de la Roche, Whiteoaks of Jalna, Dundurn Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 229 - A surname.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of various card games that can be played by one person.
More synonyms by meaning
noungood-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
patience · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*peh₁-“to hurt”
- Latinpatientia“suffering; endurance, patience”
- Old Frenchpacience
- Middle Englishpacience
- Englishpatience
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Patience · proper noun
From patience, a virtue name first used by Puritans in the sixteenth century.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek μακροθυμία, ὑπομονή
- μακροθυμία (makrothumía)quality of being patient
- ὑπομονή (hupomonḗ)quality of being patient
Arabic صَبْر, تَحَمُّل
- صَبْر (ṣabr)quality of being patient
- تَحَمُّل (taḥammul)quality of being patient
Bengali ধৈর্য
- ধৈর্য (dhōirjo)quality of being patient
Bulgarian търпе́ние, търпели́вост
- търпе́ние (tărpénie)quality of being patient
- търпели́вост (tărpelívost)quality of being patient
- пасиа́нс (pasiáns)game that can be played by one person
Catalan paciència, solitari
- paciènciaquality of being patient
- solitarigame that can be played by one person
Chinese Mandarin 耐性, 忍耐
- 耐性 (nàixìng)quality of being patient
- 忍耐 (rěnnài)quality of being patient
Czech trpělivost, pasiáns
- trpělivostquality of being patient
- pasiánsgame that can be played by one person
Danish tålmod, tålmodighed
- tålmodquality of being patient
- tålmodighedquality of being patient
Dutch geduld, patience
- geduldquality of being patient
- patiencegame that can be played by one person
- mochelengame that can be played by one person
Esperanto pacienco
- paciencoquality of being patient
Estonian kannatlikkus
- kannatlikkusquality of being patient
Finnish maltti, kärsivällisyys
- malttiquality of being patient
- kärsivällisyysquality of being patient
- pasianssigame that can be played by one person
French patience, patience
- patiencequality of being patient
- patiencegame that can be played by one person
German Geduld
- Geduldquality of being patient
Greek υπομονή, πασιέντζα
- υπομονή (ypomoní)quality of being patient
- πασιέντζα (pasiéntza)game that can be played by one person
Hebrew סַבְלָנוּת
- סַבְלָנוּת (savlanút)quality of being patient
Hindi सहन, धैर्य
- सहन (sahan)quality of being patient
- धैर्य (dhairya)quality of being patient
- सहनशीलता (sahnaśīltā)quality of being patient
- धीरज (dhīraj)quality of being patient
Hungarian türelem, pasziánsz
- türelemquality of being patient
- pasziánszgame that can be played by one person
Icelandic þolinmæði, biðlund
- þolinmæðiquality of being patient
- biðlundquality of being patient
Indonesian kesabaran
- kesabaranquality of being patient
Irish foighne
- foighnequality of being patient
Italian pazienza
- pazienzaquality of being patient
Japanese 辛抱, 忍耐
- 辛抱 (shinbō)quality of being patient
- 忍耐 (nintai)quality of being patient
- 我慢 (gaman)quality of being patient
- ソリティア (soritia)game that can be played by one person
Korean 참을성, 인내
- 참을성 (chameulseong)quality of being patient
- 인내 (innae)quality of being patient
- 솔리테어 (solliteeo)game that can be played by one person
Latin patientia
- patientiaquality of being patient
Latvian pacietība
- pacietībaquality of being patient
Lithuanian kantrybė
- kantrybėquality of being patient
Malay sabar, kesabaran
- sabarquality of being patient
- kesabaranquality of being patient
Māori manawanuitanga, manawa
- manawanuitangaquality of being patient
- manawaquality of being patient
Norwegian Bokmål tålmodighet, kabal
- tålmodighetquality of being patient
- kabalgame that can be played by one person
Persian صبر, شکیبائی
- صبر (sabr)quality of being patient
- شکیبائی (šakibâ'i)quality of being patient
- حوصله (howsele)quality of being patient
- تحمل (tahammol)quality of being patient
Polish cierpliwość, pasjans
- cierpliwośćquality of being patient
- pasjansgame that can be played by one person
Portuguese paciência, paciência
- paciênciaquality of being patient
- paciênciagame that can be played by one person
Romanian răbdare
- răbdarequality of being patient
Russian терпе́ние, терпели́вость
- терпе́ние (terpénije)quality of being patient
- терпели́вость (terpelívostʹ)quality of being patient
- пасья́нс (pasʹjáns)game that can be played by one person
Scottish Gaelic foighidinn
- foighidinnquality of being patient
Slovak trpezlivosť
- trpezlivosťquality of being patient
Spanish paciencia, solitario
- pacienciaquality of being patient
- solitariogame that can be played by one person
Swahili subra, subira
- subraquality of being patient
- subiraquality of being patient
- uvumilivuquality of being patient
Swedish tålamod, patiens
- tålamodquality of being patient
- patiensgame that can be played by one person
Tagalog pasensya, solitaryo
- pasensyaquality of being patient
- solitaryogame that can be played by one person
Thai ความอดทน
- ความอดทน (kwaam-òt-ton)quality of being patient
Turkish sabır, faysal
- sabırquality of being patient
- faysalquality of being patient
- dayançquality of being patient
- çıdamquality of being patient
- kudretquality of being patient
- pasiyansgame that can be played by one person
- tektaşgame that can be played by one person
- solo testgame that can be played by one person
Ukrainian терпі́ння, терпля́чість
- терпі́ння (terpínnja)quality of being patient
- терпля́чість (terpljáčistʹ)quality of being patient
- терпели́вість (terpelývistʹ)quality of being patient
- пасья́нс (pasʹjáns)game that can be played by one person
Urdu سہن, صبر
- سہن (sahan)quality of being patient
- صبر (sabr)quality of being patient
- تحمل (tahammul)quality of being patient
Welsh ymaros, amynedd
- ymarosquality of being patient
- amyneddquality of being patient
- dioddefgarwchquality of being patient
Yiddish געדולד
- געדולד (geduld)quality of being patient
Zulu isineke
- isinekequality of being patient
Cite this entry
patience. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/patience
“patience.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/patience. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “patience,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/patience.
Source: patience on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.