overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gallant.

Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɡælənt/
  1. Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.

  2. Honorable.

  3. Grand, noble.

  4. Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant (“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer (“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale (“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala (“good, well”), a variant form of *wela, from Proto-Germanic *wela (whence well), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail (“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz (“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil (“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil (“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English gāl (“wanton; wicked; bad”).

adj/ɡəˈlænt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡælənt/Received-Pronunciation/ɡəˈlɑnt/US/ˈɡælənt/US
  1. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Where this word comes from

17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.

noun/ɡəˈlænt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡælənt/Received-Pronunciation/ɡəˈlɑnt/US/ˈɡælənt/US
  1. A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.

    dated
  2. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.

  3. A topgallant.

Where this word comes from

17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.

verb/ɡəˈlænt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɡælənt/Received-Pronunciation/ɡəˈlɑnt/US/ˈɡælənt/US
  1. To attend or wait on (a lady).

    obsolete · transitive
    to gallant ladies to the play
  2. To handle with grace or in a modish manner.

    obsolete · transitive
    to gallant a fan
  3. To conduct, escort, convey.

    transitive
  4. To behave in a gallant fashion; to act the gallant.

Where this word comes from

17th-century borrowing from French galant. See above.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

gallant has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

gallant studiogallant workshello, gallant

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.