generous
pronunciation
How to pronounce generous in British English:
UK [ˈdʒenərəs]
How to pronounce generous in American English:
US [ˈdʒenərəs]
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- Adjective:
- willing to give and share unstintingly
- not petty in character and mind
- more than adequate
Word Origin
- generous
- generous: [16] Generous comes via Old French genereux from Latin generōsus, which originally meant ‘of noble birth’ (a sense which survived in English into the late 17th century – Richard Knolles, for instance, in his General history of the Turks 1603, wrote of ‘many knights of generous extraction’). It was a derivative of genus in the sense ‘birth, stock, race’, and harks back semantically to its ultimate source in the Indo-European base *gen- ‘produce’ (see GENERAL). Its semantic progression from ‘nobly born’ through ‘noble-minded, magnanimous’ to ‘liberal in giving’ took place largely in Latin.=> general
- generous (adj.)
- 1580s, "of noble birth," from Middle French généreux (14c.), from Latin generosus "of noble birth," figuratively "magnanimous, generous," from genus (genitive generis) "race, stock" (see genus). Secondary senses of "unselfish" (1690s) and "plentiful" (1610s) in English were present in French and in Latin. Related: Generously; generousness.
Synonym
Example
- 1. What prompted him to be so generous .
- 2. The money for this exceptionally generous deal comes from excise-tax rebates .
- 3. So how generous is 2300 yuan by international standards ?
- 4. They help republicans , just as generous absentee - and early-voting laws help democrats .
- 5. Are you ready to become a more generous person ?