decorum

See also: décorum and decòrum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin decōrum, neuter form of decōrus (“proper, decent”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɔːɹəm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm
• Hyphenation: de‧co‧rum

Noun

decorum (countable and uncountable, plural decora or decorums)

1. (uncountable) Appropriate social behavior.

   Synonyms: decency, courtesy, propriety, etiquette

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 57:

     Everyone was assembled in the dining-room. Under the circumstances, we were naturally not a cheerful party. The reaction after a shock is always trying, and I think we were all suffering from it. Decorum and good breeding naturally enjoined that our demeanour should be much as usual, yet I could not help wondering if this self-control were really a matter of great difficulty. There were no red eyes, no signs of secretly indulged grief.

   • 2010, Pseudonymous Bosch (pseudonym; Raphael Simon), This Isn't What It Looks Like, ch. 4

     It was sort of a finishing school. You know, to teach proper social decorum and so on and so forth.

2. (countable) A convention of social behavior.
   • 1834 January, [Edgar Allan Poe], “The Visionary”, in The Lady’s Book, page 41, column 2:

     In the architecture and embellishments of the chamber, the evident design was to dazzle and astound. Little attention had been paid to the decora of what is technically called “keeping,” or to the proprieties of nationality. The eye wandered from object to object, and rested upon none; neither the “Grotesques” of the Greek painters, nor the sculptures of the best Italian days, nor the huge carvings of untutored Egypt.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *deḱ- (1 c, 64 e)

Translations

appropriate social behavior; propriety

• Bulgarian: благоприли́чие (bg) n (blagoprilíčie), прили́чие (bg) n (prilíčie), благопристо́йност (bg) f (blagopristójnost), присто́йност (bg) f (pristójnost), поря́дъчност (bg) f (porjádăčnost)
• Catalan: decòrum (ca) m, decor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 體統 / 体统 (zh) (tǐtǒng), 端正 (zh) (duānzhèng)

• Finnish: hyvä käytös, säädyllisyys (fi), käytöstavat
• French: décorum (fr) m
• Galician: decoro (gl) m
• Georgian: დეკორუმი (deḳorumi), ეტიკეტი (eṭiḳeṭi), წესიერება (c̣esiereba), ღირსეულობა (ɣirseuloba), ზრდილობა (zrdiloba), ზრდილობის წესები (zrdilobis c̣esebi)
• German: Anstand (de) m, Etikette (de) f, Schicklichkeit (de) f, Anständigkeit (de) f, guter Ton m, Dekorum (de) n
• Greek: ευπρέπεια (el) f (efprépeia)

  Ancient Greek: εὐσχημοσύνη f (euskhēmosúnē)

• Hungarian: illem (hu), illendőség (hu), tisztesség (hu)
• Indonesian: dekorum
• Italian: decoro (it) m
• Japanese: 礼儀 (ja) (れいぎ, reigi)), 端正さ (ja) (たんせいさ, tansei-sa), 礼儀正しさ (ja) (れいぎただしさ, reigi tadashisa)
• Latin: decōrum n
• Malay: susila (ms), سوسيلا
• Manx: beasaght f
• Old English: sidu f
• Polish: decorum (pl) n, dekorum n
• Portuguese: decoro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਤਮੀਜ਼ f (tamīz)
• Romanian: cuviință (ro), cădere (ro), decență (ro)
• Russian: благопристо́йность (ru) f (blagopristójnostʹ), деко́рум (ru) m (dɛkórum) (literary), прили́чие (ru) n (prilíčije), благоприли́чие (ru) n (blagoprilíčije)
• Spanish: decoro (es) m, pundonor (es) m
• Swedish: dekorum (sv), anständighet (sv), värdighet (sv)

a convention of social behavior

• Bulgarian: етике́т (bg) m (etikét), поря́дки (bg) m pl (porjádki)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禮儀 / 礼仪 (zh) (lǐyí)

• Finnish: etiketti (fi)
• German: Anstandsregel (de) f, Anstandsregeln (de) pl, Konventionen (de) pl, Konvention (de) f, Benimmregel f
• Hungarian: illemszabály (hu), szokás (hu), konvenció (hu)
• Indonesian: dekorum
• Japanese: 礼儀作法 (れいぎさほう, reigi sahō), 礼儀 (ja) (れいぎ, reigi)
• Malay: tatasusila (ms), تاتاسوسيلا
• Russian: этике́т (ru) m (etikét), пра́вила поведе́ния n pl (právila povedénija)

Anagrams

• Cudmore

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [dɛˈkoː.rũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈkɔː.rum]

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-der.

Proto-Indo-European *dḱeh₁yéti

Proto-Italic *dekējeti

Proto-Italic *dekēt

Latin decet

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Italic *-ōs

Latin -or

Latin decor

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Italic *-os

Archaic Latin -os

Latin -us

Latin decōrusnom.

Latin decorum

Neuter nominalization of decōrus (“becoming, fitting, proper”).

Noun

decōrum n (genitive decōrī); second declension

1. seemliness, propriety

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	decōrum	decōra
genitive	decōrī	decōrōrum
dative	decōrō	decōrīs
accusative	decōrum	decōra
ablative	decōrō	decōrīs
vocative	decōrum	decōra

Descendants

• → Catalan: decor, decòrum
• → English: decorum
• → French: décorum
• → Galician: decoro
• → Italian: decoro
• → Occitan: decòr
• → Piedmontese: decòr
• → Portuguese: decoro
• → Spanish: decoro

References

• “decorum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “decorum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

decōrum

1. inflection of decōrus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

decōrum

1. genitive plural of decor

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

decorum

1. genitive plural of decus

Polish

Alternative forms

• dekorum

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-der.

Proto-Indo-European *dḱeh₁yéti

Proto-Italic *dekējeti

Proto-Italic *dekēt

Latin decet

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Italic *-ōs

Latin -or

Latin decor

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Italic *-os

Archaic Latin -os

Latin -us

Latin decōrusnom.

Latin decōrumubor.

Polish decorum

Unadapted borrowing from Latin decōrum. Doublet of dekoracja and dekorować.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛˈkɔ.rum/
• Rhymes: -ɔrum
• Syllabification: de‧co‧rum

Noun

decorum n

1. (literature) decorum (principle of classical rhetoric, poetry, and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject)
2. (anthropology) decorum (appropriate social behavior; propriety)

Declension

Declension of decorum

	singular	plural
nominative	decorum	decorum
genitive	decorum	decorum
dative	decorum	decorum
accusative	decorum	decorum
instrumental	decorum	decorum
locative	decorum	decorum
vocative	decorum	decorum

Further reading

• “decorum”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)