genteel
gen·teel
adjective
1.
marked by refinement in taste and manners
- “cultivated speech”
- “cultured Bostonians”
- “cultured tastes”
- “a genteel old lady”
- “polite society”
Origin
Borrowed from French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), from gēns (“clan; tribe; people, family”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”). Doublet of gentle, gentile, and jaunty. See also gens, gender, genus, and generation.
Phrases
- genteel business
- genteel lady
Related words
Word family
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.