Gentlemen

How to spell gentlemen

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce gentlemen

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does gentlemen mean?

1. nounMore than one gentleman; a polite or formal term for men, often used to address a group.

Gentlemen in a sentence

• The two gentlemen at the next table ordered coffee.

• The host welcomed the ladies and gentlemen to the annual dinner.

Where does gentlemen come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is a compound that joins 'gentle' and 'man', and its first element carries most of the history. 'Gentle' came into English in the early 1200s from Old French gentil, meaning 'high-born' or 'noble', which descended in turn from the Latin gentilis, literally 'belonging to the same family or clan', built on gens 'family, race, stock'. A 'gentleman' was therefore originally a man of good birth who was entitled to bear a coat of arms, a precise rank below the nobility rather than simply a polite or courteous male. Over the following centuries the sense softened from inherited status to admired behaviour, so that being a gentleman came to mean acting with honour and consideration. The plural 'gentlemen' became the standard formal way to address a group of men, as in letters and announcements, and the same Latin root survives in relatives such as 'genteel', 'gentile', and 'genuine'.

How the word is built

• gentle (from Latin gentilis: of good family)
• men (plural of man)

Words that sound like gentlemen

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• gentleman: A man who behaves with courtesy, honour, and good manners; also used as a polite term for any man.