# hesitate
## English
### Alternative forms

* hæsitate (archaic)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin haesitātus, perfect passive participle of haesitō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), intensive of haereō (“to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold fast”). Displaced native Old English wandian. Compare French hésiter.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈhɛz.ɪ.teɪt/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈhɛz.ə.teɪt/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈhez.ə.tæɪt/

### Verb

hesitate (third-person singular simple present hesitates, present participle hesitating, simple past and past participle hesitated)
* (intransitive) To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.
    He hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often hesitate in forming a judgment.
** September 1, 1742, Alexander Pope, letter to Racine
    I shall not hesitate to declare myself very cordially, in regard to some particulars about which you have desired an answer.
* (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking.
* (transitive, poetic, rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
** a. 1724, Alexander Pope, The Ms. at Longleat:Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

#### Usage notes

* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

#### Synonyms

* (to stop respecting decision or action): demur, falter, mammer, scruple, waver; see also Thesaurus:hesitate
* (to falter in speaking): balbucinate, balbutiate, falter, hem, haw, stammer, stutter
* (to utter with hesitation): falter

#### Derived terms

* hesitant
* hesitation

#### Translations

Arabic: تَرَدَّدَ (ar) (taraddada)
Egyptian Arabic: اتردد (etraded)
Armenian: վարանել (hy) (varanel), տատանվել (hy) (tatanvel)
Azerbaijani: tərəddüd etmək
Bashkir: икеләнеү (ikelənew)
Basque: zalantzan egon
Belarusian: хіста́цца impf (xistácca), вага́цца impf (vahácca)
Bulgarian: колеба́я се impf (kolebája se), двоумя се impf (dvoumja se), чудя се impf (čudja se)
Catalan: hesitar (ca), dubtar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 猶豫 / 犹豫 (zh) (yóuyù), 躊躇 / 踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 遲疑 / 迟疑 (zh) (chíyí)
Czech: váhat (cs) impf
Danish: tøve (da), nøle, vakle, have/nære betænkeligheder
Dutch: aarzelen (nl)
Egyptian: (sjnj)
Esperanto: heziti
Finnish: epäröidä (fi), aikailla (fi), empiä (fi), viivytellä (fi), vitkastella (fi)
French: hésiter (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: zögern (de)
Greek: διστάζω (el) (distázo)
Ancient: ὀκνέω (oknéō), αἰσχύνομαι (aiskhúnomai), φοβέομαι (phobéomai)
Hebrew: היסס (hisés)
Hungarian: tétovázik (hu), habozik (hu), hezitál (hu)
Indonesian: ragu (id)
Italian: esitare (it), titubare (it)
Japanese: ためらう (ja) (tamerau), 躊躇する (ja) (ちゅうちょする, chūcho suru), 躊躇う (ja) (tamerau)
Kazakh: баяулату (baäulatu), күмәндану (kümändanu), бұраландау (būralandau), дүдәмал болу (düdämal bolu)
Khmer: ទីមទាម (km) (tiimtiəm), ទីទើរ (km) (tiitəə), តេងតាង (km) (teengtaang), ញីញញូញ (km) (ñiiññuuñ), ច្រេញច្រុញ (km) (crəñcroñ), ច្រិមច្រុម (km) (crəmcrom)
Korean: 망설이다 (ko) (mangseorida)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: دوودڵ بوون (dûdill bûn)
Latin: haesitō, dubito (la)
Lithuanian: dvejoti (lt) impf, svyruoti impf
Luxembourgish: zécken
Macedonian: се колеба impf (se koleba)
Maori: tawhitawhi, kōrapa
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian: nøle med å
Bokmål: nøle (no)
Old English: wandian
Polish: wahać się (pl) impf
Portuguese: hesitar (pt), vacilar (pt), titubear (pt)
Quechua: iskayyay
Romanian: ezita (ro), șovăi (ro), pregeta (ro), a se codi (ro)
Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), ме́длить (ru) impf (médlitʹ), сомнева́ться (ru) impf (somnevátʹsja)
Scots: swither
Scottish Gaelic: sòr
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: оклевати impf (Ekavian), оклијевати impf (Ijekavian), колебати impf, поколебати pf, двоумити impf, нећкати pf
Roman: oklevati (sh) impf (Ekavian), oklijevati (sh) impf (Ijekavian), kolebati (sh) impf, pokolebati (sh) pf, dvoumiti (sh) impf, nećkati pf
Sicilian: trantulijari
Slovak: váhať impf
Spanish: vacilar (es), dudar (es), hesitar (es) (rare), titubear (es)
Swedish: tveka (sv)
Tagalog: magdalawang-isip
Thai: ลังเล (th) (lang-lee)
Turkish: çekinmek (tr), kararsız kalmak, tereddüt etmek (tr)
Ukrainian: колива́тися impf (kolyvátysja), хита́тися impf (xytátysja), вага́тися (uk) impf (vahátysja)
Vietnamese: chần chừ (vi), do dự (vi) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

* “hesitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “hesitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “hesitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* athetise, hatesite

## Spanish
### Verb

hesitate
* second-person singular voseo imperative of hesitar combined with te