forgive
/fɚˈɡɪv/verb
forgive is spelled F-O-R-G-I-V-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, forgive means “To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in forgive?
| Letters | 7: F-O-R-G-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,667th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is forgive?
Forgive appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce forgive?
- UK /fə(ɹ)ˈɡɪv/
- UK /fɔː(ɹ)ˈɡɪv/
- US /fɚˈɡɪv/
Forgive has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-forgive.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of forgive
- forgives present, singular, he/she/it
- forgiving participle, present
- forgave past
- forgiven participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does forgive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss.
- 2
To pardon (something); to waive any negative feeling over or retribution for.
- 3
To waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.
Forgive a debt, that is, tell a debtor that a repayment of a loan is no longer needed.
- 4
To accord forgiveness.
The brave know only how to forgive […] A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.
- 5
To look past; to look beyond.
The music critic loves the instrumentation of the song so much that he can forgive the confusing lyrics.
- 6
To redeem; to offset the bad effects of something.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forgive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (''transitive'') to pardon:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does forgive come from?
Alteration (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, forȝiven, from Old English forġiefan (“to forgive, to give”), from Proto-West Germanic *frageban, from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- + give (etymologically for- + yive). Cognate with Scots forgeve, forgif, forgie (“to forgive”), West Frisian ferjaan (“to forgive”), Dutch vergeven (“to forgive”), German vergeben (“to forgive”), Icelandic fyrirgefa (“to forgive”), Yiddish פֿאַרגעבן (fargebn, “to forgive”)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).