# pardon
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdonare, from per- + donare, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpɑːdn̩/
* (General American, Canada) IPA: /ˈpɑɹd(ə)n/, [ˈpʰɑ˞dn̩]
* Audio (General American):(file)
* (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈpaːdɘn/, [ˈpʰäːɾɘn]
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dən
* Hyphenation: par‧don

### Noun

pardon (countable and uncountable, plural pardons)
* Forgiveness for an offence.
    Synonym: clemency
** 1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:[…] a step, that could not be taken with the least hope of ever obtaining pardon from or reconciliation with any of my friends; […]
** 1997, Denise Keyes Filios, Women Out of Bounds:According to this logic, the pardons Balteira gained on her pilgrimage should have revirginated her, and would have if she had an 'iron box', or a firm dedication to her Christian faith, with which to guard her chastity.”
* (law) An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed.
    The President […] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
** 1974 September 8, Gerald R. Ford, 00:24 from the start, in Proclamation 4311‎, archived from the original on 18 May 2017, page 2‎:NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.
** 2001, Barbara Olson, “The Final Frenzy: Finishing Touches on the Legend”, in The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House‎ (Politics/Current Affairs), Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 7:But the president's most irreversible, almost God-like power is the authority granted to him under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, "to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses Against the United States. . . ." The power is absolute-even a serial killer could be pardoned-and utterly unreviewable. It cannot be rescinded by the next president. The president may grant a pardon before a trial, after a trial, or without a trial. Once granted, a pardon can never be taken away.

#### Derived terms

* begging your pardon
* beg pardon
* beg someone's pardon
* I beg your pardon
* pardonmonger
* Paschal pardon
* self-pardon

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

pardon (third-person singular simple present pardons, present participle pardoning, simple past and past participle pardoned)
* (transitive) To forgive (a person).
    Synonym: amnesty
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
** 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:I hope you will not find he has outstepped the truth more than may be pardoned, in consideration of the motive.
** 1793 March 19, Hester Piozzi, Thraliana:Well! the King of France died pardoning & pitying all those who had tortured his Soul & Body, a great Pattern for us all.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
* (transitive) To refrain from exacting as a penalty.
** c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
* (transitive, law) To grant an official pardon for a crime.
** 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.

#### Derived terms

* pardonable
* pardoner
* pardon me
* pardon mon français
* pardon my French
* pardon the expression
* self-pardon
* unpardonable

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Interjection

pardon?
* Often used when someone does not understand what another person says.

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:say again

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Padron

## Czech
### Alternative forms

* pardón

### Interjection

pardon
* sorry, I'm sorry, I beg your pardon, I apologize
    Synonyms: omlouvám se, promiňte, promiň, sorry, soráč

### Further reading

* “pardon”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “pardon”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from French pardon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pɑrˈdɔn/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: par‧don
* Rhymes: -ɔn

### Interjection

pardon
* I'm sorry, pardon

#### Descendants

* Negerhollands: pardon, bardon
* → Saramaccan: padón

### Noun

pardon n (plural pardons)
* (law) pardon, clemency

#### Descendants

* Negerhollands: pardon, bardon

## French
### Etymology

Deverbal from pardonner.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /paʁ.dɔ̃/
* Audio (France):(file)
* Audio (Quebec):(file)

### Interjection

pardon
* excuse me
* sorry

#### Descendants

* → Bulgarian: пардон (pardon) (colloquial)
* → Czech: pardon (colloquial)
* → Dutch: pardon
** Negerhollands: pardon, bardon
** → Saramaccan: padón
* → English: pardon
* → Greek: μπαρδόν (bardón)
* → Hungarian: pardon
* → Macedonian: пардон (pardon)
* → Ottoman Turkish: پاردون (pardon)
** Turkish: pardon
* → Polish: pardon
* → Romanian: pardon
* → Russian: пардон (pardon) (colloquial)

### Noun

pardon m (plural pardons)
* pardon, forgiveness

#### Derived terms

* demander pardon
* Grand Pardon

#### Descendants

* Dutch: pardon
** Negerhollands: pardon, bardon
* German: Pardon
* Hungarian: pardon
* Romanian: pardon
* Swedish: pardon

### Further reading

* “pardon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* pondra

## Hungarian
### Etymology

From French pardon, primarily via German Pardon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈpɒrdon]
* Hyphenation: par‧don
* Rhymes: -on

### Interjection

pardon
* pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your pardon!, sorry!
    Synonym: bocsánat

### Noun

pardon
* (dated, law) pardon
    Synonym: kegyelem

#### Derived terms

* nem ismer pardont

### References

* ↑ pardon in Károly Gerstner, editor, Új magyar etimológiai szótár [New Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian] (ÚESz.), Online edition (beta version), Budapest: MTA Research Institute for Linguistics / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, 2011–2024.

### Further reading

* pardon in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French pardon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpar.dɔn/, (standard) /parˈdɔw̃/, (regional or dialectal, proscribed) /parˈdɔm/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ardɔn, -ɔw̃
* Syllabification: par‧don

### Noun

pardon m inan
* (dated) pardon, forgiveness
    Synonyms: przebaczenie, wybaczenie

#### Derived terms

* bezpardonowy
* bezpardonowo
* bezpardonowość
* pardonować

### Interjection

pardon
* (colloquial) sorry, excuse me, I beg your pardon
    Synonym: przepraszam

### Further reading

* pardon in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* pardon in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French pardon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /parˈdon/

### Interjection

pardon
* pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your pardon!, sorry!

### Noun

pardon n (uncountable)
* (dated) pardon, pardoning, forgiveness, excuse

#### Synonyms

* iertare, scuză

#### See also

* poftim

## Swedish
### Noun

pardon c
* (usually negated) mercy
    utan pardon ― without mercy

#### Synonyms

* nåd

### References

* pardon in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* pardon in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* pardon in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

### Anagrams

* pandor

## Turkish
### Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish پاردون (pardon), from French pardon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pɑɾ.don/

### Interjection

pardon
* pardon!, pardon me!, excuse me!, I beg your pardon!, sorry!