pejorative

See also: péjorative

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

pejorative

Wikipedia

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)

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

Synonyms

• derogatory
• dyslogistic
• disrespectful

Antonyms

• ameliorative
• approbative
• eulogistic
• meliorative

Derived terms

• nonpejorative
• pejoratively
• pejorativeness
• pejorativization

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)

1. 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, 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

• dyslogism
• dysphemism

Antonyms

• approvative
• euphemism

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. “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.