Word Confusion: Genteel vs Gentile vs Gentle

Posted October 24, 2016 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
22 Nov 2022

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This is a recent word confusion I’m encountering and it’s very disconcerting: genteel versus gentile. It’s not to say that a Gentile can’t be genteel, but the context simply isn’t working.

“Women juggling careers and families had little time for such gentile gestures.”

And gentle was added in, as I ran across Internet references which noted that it was also confused with the first two.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Genteel	Gentile	Gentle
The Garden at Hampton House with Mr and Mrs David Garrick Taking Tea is a painting by Johann Zoffany, 1762. It is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Quite the genteel picnic.	Pope Francis Visits Saint Louis Hospital, 2019, is Tris T7‘s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — The pope is too obviously Gentile . . .	Sitta europaea Wildlife is Paweł Kuźniar’s own work (User:Jojo) under the GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons. — Be gentle when holding a bird.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective	Adjective; Proper Noun Plural: Gentiles	Adjective ¹; Noun ²; Verb ¹, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: gentles Gerund: gentling Third person present verb: gentles Past tense or past participle: gentled Present participle: gentling
Polite, refined, or respectable, often in an affected or ostentatious way	Adjective: [Gentile] Not Jewish [Of a person] Not belonging to one’s own religious community [In the Mormon church] Non-Mormon [Of a linguistic expression] Expressing nationality or local origins [Chiefly anthropology] Of, relating to, or indicating a nation or clan, especially a gens Proper Noun: A person who is not Jewish Heathen, pagan	Adjective: [Of a person] Mild in temperament or behavior ¹ Kind or tender [Archaic; of a person] Noble or having the qualities attributed to noble birth Courteous Chivalrous Moderate in action, effect, or degree Not harsh or severe [Of a slope] Gradual Noun: [Archaic] One of good birth or relatively high station ² [Fishing] A maggot, especially the larva of a blowfly, used as bait Verb, intransitive: Make or become gentle ¹ Calm or pacify Verb, transitive: Make or become gentle ¹ Calm or pacify Make (an animal) docile by gentle handling
Examples:
She was quite the genteel lady. Holding your pinky in the air while drinking tea does not make you genteel. They lived in genteel poverty. The game seemed to be some genteel form of American football. The mansion had an atmosphere of genteel elegance and decay. He took elocution lessons to try to make his accent sound more genteel.	Adjective: Christianity spread from Jewish into gentile cultures. The Jews lived uneasily in the gentile neighborhood. Nomen gentile is the name of an ancient Roman’s family, his surname if you will. Proper Noun: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the gentiles . . .” Malachai 1:11 You must not associate with those Gentiles, child. When a Gentile was converted to Judaism, he was called a proselyte.	Adjective: Chooch was a gentle, sensitive dog. Sir John was a good and gentle knight. All it took was a little gentle persuasion. A gentle breeze wafted through the leaves. Thank god, it was a gentle embankment he thought, as he rolled down the hill. Noun: Ol’ Henry preferred fishing with gentles, for they were easy to come by. The king was much loved, as he treated both the gentles and the commoners with respect and kindness. Verb, intransitive: Cobb’s tone gentled a little. Verb, transitive: The peaceful sunset gentled her dreadful mood. Tweety had been gentled enough to sit on my hand. James was renowned for gentling horses.
Derivatives:
Adjective: pseudogenteel, quasi-genteel Adverb: genteely, quasi-genteelly Noun: genteelness	Adjective: nongentile, pro-gentile, ungentile Noun: nongentile, pro-Gentile	Adjective: gentler, gentlest, overgentle, ungentle Adverb: gently, overgently Noun: gentleness
History of the Word:
Late 16th century in the sense of fashionable, stylish is from the French gentil meaning well-born. From the 17th century to the 19th century, the word was used in such senses as of good social position, having the manners of a well-born person, or well-bred. The 19th century is when the ironic or derogatory implication arose.	Late Middle English from the Latin gentilis meaning of a family or nation, of the same clan (used in the Vulgate to refer to non-Jews), from gens, gent- meaning family, race, from the root of gignere meaning beget.	Middle English from the Old French gentil meaning highborn, noble, from the Latin gentilis meaning of the same clan (see gentile). The original sense was nobly born, hence courteous, chivalrous. By the mid-16th century, it meant mild, moderate in action or disposition. Late 16th century and probably from an obsolete sense of the adjectival version of soft, pliant.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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