pejorative

See also: péjorative

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

pejorative

Etymology

From Late Latin peiōrātus (past participle of peiōrāre (“make worse”), from Latin peior (“worse”)) +‎ -ive.^[1] Compare French péjoratif (“depreciative, disparaging”). By surface analysis, pejorate +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɪˈd͡ʒɒɹətɪv/
(General American) IPA^(key): /pɪˈd͡ʒoɹətɪv/; (uncommon) IPA^(key): /pɪˈd͡ʒɑɹ.ə.tɪv/^[2]
- (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /pəˈd͡ʒoɹətəv/
Audio (UK): (file)

Adjective

pejorative (comparative more pejorative, superlative most pejorative)

Disparaging, belittling or derogatory. [from 1882]^[1]

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

disparaging, belittling or derogatory

Bulgarian: неодобрителен (bg) (neodobritelen), омаловажаващ (bg) (omalovažavašt)
Catalan: pejoratiu
Chinese:
Mandarin: 貶義的 / 贬义的 (zh) (biǎnyì de), 輕蔑的 / 轻蔑的 (zh) (qīngmiè de)
Czech: pejorativní (cs)
Danish: nedsættende
Dutch: kleinerend (nl) denigrerend (nl)
Finnish: halventava (fi), väheksyvä, alentava (fi), pejoratiivinen (fi)
French: péjoratif (fr)
Galician: pexorativo (gl) m
German: abschätzig (de), abwertend (de), herabsetzend (de), verschlechternd (de), verschlimmernd (de), pejorativ (de)
Greek: υποτιμητικός (el) m (ypotimitikós), εξευτελιστικός (el) m (exeftelistikós), μειωτικός (el) m (meiotikós)
Hungarian: pejoratív (hu)
Italian: peggiorativo, riduttivo (it) m
Japanese: 軽蔑的な (ja) (けいべつてきな, keibetsuteki na); 侮蔑的な (ぶべつてきな, bubetsuteki na); 侮辱的な (ぶじょくてきな, bujokuteki na)
Korean: 경멸어 (gyeongmyeoreo), 경멸적인 (gyeongmyeoljeogin)
Macedonian: погрден m (pogrden), пејорати́вен m (pejoratíven)
Malayalam: അപകീർത്തികരമായ (apakīṟttikaramāya)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: nedsettende (no)

Nynorsk: nedsetjande
Polish: pejoratywny (pl) m
Portuguese: pejorativo (pt)
Romanian: peiorativ (ro) m
Russian: неодобри́тельный (ru) (neodobrítelʹnyj), уничижи́тельный (ru) (uničižítelʹnyj), презри́тельный (ru) (prezrítelʹnyj)
Spanish: despectivo (es), peyorativo (es)
Swedish: nedsättande (sv), pejorativ (sv)
Turkish: ablak (tr), alçaltıcı (tr), aşağılayıcı (tr), küçültücü (tr), yermeli (tr), pejoratif (tr) (sociology)

Noun

pejorative (plural pejoratives)

A disparaging, belittling, or derogatory word or expression.
- 2023 October 12, Edgar Momplaisir, “A Few Badgeys More” (15:59 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks‎^[1], season 4, episode 7, spoken by Logic-y (Jack McBrayer):
  “Get away from me, freak.” “Actually, my designation is Logic-y. I take issue with the pejorative when I am simply a product of your self-inflicted bifurcation.”

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

disparaging, belittling or derogatory word or expression

Afrikaans: pejoratief (af)
Chinese:
Mandarin: (word) 貶義詞 / 贬义词 (zh) (biǎnyìcí), 輕蔑詞 / 轻蔑词 (qīngmiècí), (expression) 貶義語 / 贬义语 (biǎnyìyǔ), 輕蔑語 / 轻蔑语 (qīngmièyǔ)
Czech: pejorativum (cs) n
Danish: pejorativ, nedsættende udsagn n
Dutch: pejoratief (nl)
Finnish: pejoratiivi (fi), haukkumasana
German: Pejorativum (de) n
Italian: peggiorativo m, spregiativo (it) m
Japanese: 軽蔑 (ja) (けいべつ, keibetsu); 侮蔑 (ja) (ぶべつ, bubetsu); 侮辱 (ja) (ぶじょく, bujoku)
Macedonian: пејорати́в m (pejoratív)
Norwegian: pejorativ n
Portuguese: pejorativo (pt) m
Romanian: peiorativ (ro) n
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пежоратив m, пејоратив m

Latin: pežorativ m, pejorativ (sh) m
Spanish: peyorativo (es) m
Swedish: pejorativ (sv) n
Turkish: aşağılama (tr), hakaret (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Korean: ^{(please verify)} 경멸 (ko) (gyeongmyeol)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} peiorativus
Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} погрден m (pogrden), ^{(please verify)} навредлив m (navredliv)

References

“pejorative”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “pejorative”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “pejorative, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
^ “pejorative”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

[OED-1] 1.0 ^1.1 “pejorative, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

[2] “pejorative”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

[1]