Gallant

How to spell gallant

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce gallant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gallant mean?

1. adjectiveBrave, noble, and showing courageous spirit, especially in difficult or dangerous circumstances.
2. adjectiveMarkedly polite, charming, and attentive in manner, especially a man toward women.

Gallant in a sentence

• The soldiers made a gallant stand against a much larger force.

• It was a gallant gesture for him to carry her heavy bags up the stairs.

• Despite the failing business, she put up a gallant effort to keep every job.

• He gave a gallant bow and pulled out her chair at the dinner table.

Where does gallant come from?

Language of origin: French

Gallant came into English in the late 1300s from the Old French galant, the present participle of the verb galer, which meant 'to make merry, to enjoy oneself, to revel'. That verb traces back to gale, meaning 'pleasure, merriment, festivity', and the deeper root is generally taken to be Germanic, related to a Frankish word for 'good' or 'well'. The earliest English sense leaned on this festive ancestry, describing someone showy, finely dressed, and pleasure-loving; from there it broadened to 'splendid, fine' and then to the admiring senses of 'brave' and 'chivalrous'. When the focus narrowed to a man being courteous and attentive to women, the stress shifted to the second syllable, giving the familiar pair of pronunciations. The single-l, -ant spelling reflects the French original; the trap for writers is resisting the urge to double the l or to finish with -ent.

How the word is built

• gallant (from Old French galer: to make merry, rejoice)
• -ant (present-participle/adjective ending)