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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pardon.

Forgiveness for an offence.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɑːdn̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɑɹdn̩/Canada, General-American[ˈpʰɑ˞dn̩]Canada, General-American/ˈpaːdɘn/New-Zealand
  1. Forgiveness for an offence.

    countable · uncountable
  2. An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed.

    countable · uncountable
    The President[…]shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdōnāre, from per- + dōnāre, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.

verb/ˈpɑːdn̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɑɹdn̩/Canada, General-American[ˈpʰɑ˞dn̩]Canada, General-American/ˈpaːdɘn/New-Zealand
  1. To forgive (a person).

    transitive
  2. To refrain from exacting as a penalty.

    transitive
  3. To grant an official pardon for a crime.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdōnāre, from per- + dōnāre, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.

intj/ˈpɑːdn̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɑɹdn̩/Canada, General-American[ˈpʰɑ˞dn̩]Canada, General-American/ˈpaːdɘn/New-Zealand
  1. Often used when someone does not understand what another person says.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdōnāre, from per- + dōnāre, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.

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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.