English
gentile
Gentile comes from Latin gentīlis ‘of or belonging to the same people or nation’, from gēns ‘clan’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce, to beget, to give birth’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-1‘to produce, to beget, to give birth’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵénh₁tis1‘birth, production’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gentis1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgēns2‘clan’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgentīlis2‘of or belonging to the same people or nation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400gentil3
- Frenchc. 1600–presentgentil2
- Englishearliest quotation 1611gentile2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin gens
- 2 Wiktionary, English gentile
- 3 Wiktionary, French gentil
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And he said, It is a light thing that…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-Wiktionary, Latin gens‘to produce, to beget, to give birth’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵénh₁tisWiktionary, Latin gens‘birth, production’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gentisWiktionary, Latin gensreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgēnsWiktionary, English gentile‘clan’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgentīlisWiktionary, English gentile‘of or belonging to the same people or nation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400gentilWiktionary, French gentil
- Frenchc. 1600–presentgentilWiktionary, English gentile
- Englishearliest quotation 1611gentileWiktionary, English gentile. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And he said, It is a light thing that…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce, to beget, to give birth’
king, general, nature, german, engine, native, pregnant, generation, gender, kindness, genuine, ken, genius, generate, indigenous, generous, gene, oxygen, naive, genre, nationalism, kin, noel, hydrogen, genocide, innate, natal, kinder, genus, nee, nada, genital, ingenious, nativity, janata, germ, puny, nascent, cognate, glycogen, 102 more
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis ‘birth, production’
kind, nation, genesis, genetics, 14 more
through Latin gēns ‘clan’
through Latin gentīlis ‘of or belonging to the same people or nation’
through Old French gentil
through French gentil
Today it means
adj Non-Jewish.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “gentile”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin gens, French gentil. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / gentile