Polite

How to spell polite

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce polite

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does polite mean?

1. adjectiveShowing good manners, courtesy, and consideration towards others.

Polite in a sentence

• A polite reply to the complaint calmed the customer down.

• She stayed polite even when the meeting ran two hours late.

Where does polite come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Polite comes from the Latin politus, the past participle of polire, meaning 'to polish' or 'to smooth'. The same verb gives us the everyday word 'polish', and the connection is the key to the meaning: a polite person is figuratively smoothed and refined, free of rough edges in manner and speech. English adopted the word in the late 1300s and early 1400s, at first in the literal sense of something physically polished or burnished, before the figurative sense of refined behaviour took over by the 1500s. The shift mirrors how we still speak of someone being 'rough' or 'unpolished' when they lack good manners. Because the root is polish, the spelling keeps a single 'l' and ends in -ite rather than -ight, a common slip for fluent writers.

How the word is built

• polit- (from Latin politus: polished, refined)
• -e (adjective ending)