humility (n.)

early 14c., "quality of being humble," from Old French umelite "humility, modesty, sweetness" (Modern French humilité), from Latin humilitatem (nominative humilitas) "lowness, small stature; insignificance; baseness, littleness of mind," in Church Latin "meekness," from humilis "lowly, humble," literally "on the ground," from humus "earth," from PIE root *dhghem- "earth." In the Mercian hymns, Latin humilitatem is glossed by Old English eaðmodnisse.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to humility

*dhghem-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "earth."

It forms all or part of: antichthon; autochthon; autochthonic; bonhomie; bridegroom; camomile; chameleon; chernozem; chthonic; exhume; homage; hombre; homicide; hominid; Homo sapiens; homunculus; human; humane; humble; humiliate; humility; humus; inhumation; inhume; nemo; ombre; omerta.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit ksam- "earth" (opposed to "sky"); Greek khthōn "the earth, solid surface of the earth," khamai "on the ground;" Latin humus "earth, soil," humilis "low;" Lithuanian žemė, Old Church Slavonic zemlja "earth;" Old Irish du, genitive don "place," earlier "earth."

Trends of humility

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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pride

Middle English prede, from late Old English pryto, Kentish prede, Mercian pride "unreasonable self-esteem, especially as one of the deadly sins; haughtiness, overbearing treatment of others; pomp, love of display," from prud (see proud (adj.)). There is debate whether Scandinavia

conceit

late 14c., "a thought, a notion, that which is mentally conceived," from conceiven (see conceive) based on analogy of deceit/deceive and receipt/receive. The sense evolved from "something formed in the mind" to "fanciful or witty notion, ingenious thought" (1510s), to "vanity, ex

omerta

the leader and silence about the organization and its business, 1909, from Italian omertà, a dialectal form of umilta "humility...

modest

1560s, "having moderate self-regard, restrained by a sense of propriety or humility," from French modeste (14c.), from Latin...

abjection

c. 1400, "humbleness, low state, meanness of spirit, abject situation, groveling humility," from Old French abjection (14c...

Edward

The Christian humility of King Edward the Confessor brought such credit to this name that since that time it hath been most...

meek

Scandinavian source such as Old Norse mjukr "soft, pliant, gentle," from Proto-Germanic *meukaz (source also of Gothic muka-modei "humility...

trait

late 15c., "shot, missiles;" later "a stroke in drawing, a short line" (1580s), from French trait "line, stroke, feature, tract," from Latin tractus "drawing, drawing out, dragging, pulling," later "line drawn, feature," from past participle stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see t

submission

late 14c., submissioun, "act of referring to a third party for judgment or decision," from Old French submission or directly from Latin submissionem (nominative submissio) "a lowering, letting down; sinking," noun of action from past-participle stem of submittere "to let down, pu

suffrage

late 14c., "prayer," especially "intercessory prayers or pleas on behalf of another," from Old French sofrage "plea, intercession" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin suffragium, from Latin suffragium "support, ballot, vote cast in an assembly; right of voting; a voting table

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updated on October 13, 2021

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Dictionary entries near humility

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humidor

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humiliating

humiliation

humility

hummable

hummer

humming

hummock

hummus