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gentile

gen·tile/ˈd͡ʒɛntaɪl/adjective, noun

gentile is spelled G-E-N-T-I-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (gen·tile). It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, gentile means “Non-Jewish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in gentile?

Letters7: G-E-N-T-I-L-E
Syllables2: gen·tile
In writing1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is gentile?

Gentile appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th 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 gentile?

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛntaɪl/

Gentile has 2 syllables, split gen·tile in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-gentile.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Rho9998-Gentile.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of gentile

  • gentiles plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does gentile mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Non-Jewish.

  2. 2

    Heathen, pagan.

  3. 3

    Non-Mormon.

  4. 4

    Relating to a clan, tribe, or nation; clannish, tribal, national.

  5. 5

    Of or pertaining to a gens or several gentes.

  6. 6

    Of a part of speech such as an adjective, noun or verb: relating to a particular city, nation or country.

noun

  1. 1

    A non-Jewish person.

  2. 2

    A non-Mormon person.

  3. 3

    A noun derived from a proper noun which denotes something belonging to or coming from a particular city, nation, or country.

noun

as Gentile
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of gentile (a non-Jewish person).

  2. 2

    A non-Mormon person (including Jews).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Gentile in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgentil (non-Jewish)
Germannichtjüdisch, heidnisch (non-Jewish), Goj, Nichtjude, Nichtjüdin, Heide (non-Jewish person)
Portuguesegentio (non-Jewish)
Spanishgentil (non-Jewish), pagano (heathen, pagan)

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 gentile come from?

Borrowed from French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), morphologically from gēns (“clan; tribe; people, family”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”). Doublet of gentle, genteel, jaunty, and Gentoo. See also gens, gender, genus, and generation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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