gentleman

Friday, November 07, 2025 12:05PM

Etymology

From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle +‎ man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/

(General American) IPA(key): [ˈd͡ʒɛɾ̃.ɫ̩.mən]

Audio (US):

Duration: 1 second.0:01

Audio (General Australian):

Duration: 2 seconds.0:02

Hyphenation: gentle‧man

Homophone: gentlemen

Noun

gentleman (plural gentlemen)

Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.

(by extension; polite term of address) Any man.

Synonym: sahib

Coordinate terms: lady, gentlewoman, (historical) gentlelady

Please escort this gentleman to the gentlemen's room.

(chiefly historical) A man of gentle but not noble birth, particularly a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (UK law) an armigerous man ranking below a knight.

Being a gentleman, Robert was entitled to shove other commoners into the gongpit but he still had to jump out of the way of the knights to avoid the same fate himself.

(derogatory) An effeminate or oversophisticated man.

Synonyms: cockney, puss-gentleman, sissy; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man

Well, la-di-da, aren't you just a proper gentleman?

(usually historical, sometimes derogatory) An amateur or dabbler in any field, particularly those of independent means.

Synonym: dilettante

(cricket) An amateur player, particularly one whose wealth permits him to forego payment.

Coordinate terms: professional, (historical) player

Usage notes

Although gentleman is used in reference to a man and gentlemen is used as a polite form of address to a group of men, it is more common to directly address a single gentleman as sir.

The singular possessive of the sense "any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man" can appear in ad hoc compounds to describe a polite way of doing something; e.g. a "gentleman's sweep" when a dominant basketball team allowed the opponent one win in a series[1].

Derived terms

April gentleman

country gentleman

first gentleman

gent

gentleboy

gentleman about town

gentleman and scholar

gentleman-at-arms

gentleman-commoner

gentleman cow

gentleman farmer

gentlemanhood

gentleman-in-waiting

gentlemanish

gentlemanism

gentlemanize

Gentleman Jim

gentlemanliness

gentlemanly

gentleman of leisure

gentleman of the back door

gentleman's bet

gentleman's C

gentleman scientist

gentleman's gentleman

gentlemanship

gentleman usher

gentlemen's agreement

gentlemen's club

gentlemen's room

gentlethem

ladies and gentlemen

old gentleman

put the beggar on the gentleman

Reverend Gentleman

scholar and gentleman

second gentleman

temporary gentleman

transgentleman

ungentleman

walking gentleman

Related terms

gentlewoman

gentlelady

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