diligent

English

Plate 1 of classical virtues: Diligence. She is holding a whip and spurs, signifying a drive to steadfastly move forward with one's means.

Etymology

From Middle English diligent, from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns (“careful, attentive, diligent”), present participle of dīligō (“to love, esteem much”, literally “to choose, select”), from dī-, dis- (“apart”) + legō (“to choose”); see elect and select.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

diligent (comparative more diligent, superlative most diligent)

1. Performing with industrious concentration; hard-working and focused.

   Scientists are very diligent in their work.

Alternative forms

• deligent (archaic)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:industrious

Derived terms

• diligently
• diligentness
• overdiligent
• undiligent

Related terms

• diligence

Translations

hard-working and focused

• Albanian: i zellshëm (sq)
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: иштеҥкей (išteŋkey), иштемекей (ištemekey)

• Arabic: مُجْتَهِد (ar) (mujtahid)
• Armenian: աշխատասեր (hy) (ašxataser)
• Azerbaijani: çalışqan (az)
• Bashkir: тырыш (tırış), егәрле (yigärli), эшсән (işsän)
• Belarusian: працаві́ты (pracavíty), стара́нны (be) (staránny), руплі́вы (ruplívy), пі́льны (pílʹny)
• Bulgarian: приле́жен (bg) (priléžen), усъ́рден (bg) (usắrden), стара́телен (bg) (starátelen), трудолюби́в (bg) (trudoljubív)
• Catalan: diligent
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刻苦 (zh) (kèkǔ), 耐勞 / 耐劳 (zh) (nàiláo), 努力 (zh) (nǔlì), 勤奮 / 勤奋 (zh) (qínfèn), 勤勞 / 勤劳 (zh) (qínláo), 勤勉 (zh) (qínmiǎn)

• Czech: pilný (cs) m
• Danish: flittig, ihærdig, arbejdsom
• Dutch: ijverig (nl), vlijtig (nl), toegewijd (nl)
• Esperanto: diligenta (eo)
• Estonian: usin (et)
• Faroese: íðin, dúgligur, arbeiðssamur
• Finnish: tunnollinen (fi), huolellinen (fi), uuttera (fi), ahkera (fi), reipas (fi)
• French: industrieux (fr), diligent (fr)
• Galician: dilixente (gl), bulideiro
• Georgian: შრომისმოყვარე (šromismoq̇vare), ბეჯითი (beǯiti)
• German: fleißig (de), arbeitsam (de), eifrig (de), sorgfältig (de), dienstbeflissen (de) (dated), tüchtig (de), betriebsam (de)
• Greek: επιμελής (el) (epimelís), εργατικός (el) (ergatikós), φιλόπονος (el) (filóponos)

  Ancient Greek: σπουδαῖος (spoudaîos)

• Hebrew: חָרוּץ (he) (kharúts)
• Hindi: कर्मठ (hi) (karmaṭh), कर्मनिष्ठ (hi) (karmaniṣṭh), परिश्रमी (hi) (pariśramī), उद्योगी (hi) (udyogī), मेहनती (hi) (mehnatī)
• Hungarian: szorgalmas (hu), igyekvő (hu)
• Icelandic: iðinn (is)
• Ido: diligenta (io)
• Indonesian: rajin (id)
• Interlingua: diligente
• Irish: dúthrachtach
• Italian: diligente (it)
• Japanese: 勤勉な (ja) (きんべんな, kinben na)
• Kazakh: құнтты (qunttı), ынталы (ıntalı)
• Khmer: លំអោត (lumʼaot), ស្រវាស្រទេញ (km) (srɑvaa srɑtɨñ), ឱហាត (km) (ʼaohaat)
• Korean: 근면하다 (ko) (geunmyeonhada), 부지런하다 (ko) (bujireonhada)
• Kyrgyz: тырышчаак (ky) (tırışcaak), кунттуу (kunttuu)
• Latin: sēdulus, industrius, diligens
• Latvian: centīgs, cītīgs, uzcītīgs
• Lithuanian: stropus
• Macedonian: усрден (usrden), трудољубив (trudoljubiv), работлив (rabotliv)
• Māori: urupū, pukunanaiore
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хичээнгүй (mn) (xičeengüi)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flittig, iherdig (no), arbeidsom (no),

  Nynorsk: arbeidsam

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: ساعی (fa) (sâ'i), کوشا (fa) (kušâ), پُرْکار (porkâr)

• Polish: pilny (pl) m
• Portuguese: diligente (pt)
• Romanian: harnic (ro), diligent (ro)
• Russian: приле́жный (ru) (priléžnyj), усе́рдный (ru) (usérdnyj), трудолюби́вый (ru) (trudoljubívyj), работя́щий (ru) (rabotjáščij), стара́тельный (ru) (starátelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dèanadach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ма̀рљив, трудољубив

  Latin: màrljiv (sh), trudoljubiv

• Slovak: pilný, usilovný, pracovitý
• Slovene: marljiv
• Spanish: diligente (es)
• Swedish: flitig (sv), ihärdig (sv), arbetsam (sv)
• Tajik: боғайрат (boġayrat), серғайрат (serġayrat), меҳнатдӯст (mehnatdüst), меҳнатӣ (mehnati)
• Tatar: тырыш (tırış)
• Thai: ขยัน (th) (kà-yǎn)
• Turkish: çalışkan (tr)
• Ukrainian: стара́нний (staránnyj), пи́льний (pýlʹnyj), рете́льний (retélʹnyj)
• Urdu: مِحْنَتی (mihnatī)
• Uyghur: تىرىشچان (tirishchan)
• Uzbek: tirishqoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: siêng năng (vi), chăm chỉ (vi)
• Welsh: diwyd (cy)

Further reading

• “diligent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “diligent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin diligentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [di.liˈʒe̞n]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [di.liˈʒent]
• IPA^(key): (Central, Northwestern) [di.liˈʒen]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [di.liˈd͡ʒent]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

diligent m or f (masculine and feminine plural diligents)

1. diligent (performing with intense concentration)

Derived terms

• diligentment

Related terms

• diligència

Further reading

• “diligent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

From Latin diligentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.li.ʒɑ̃/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Adjective

diligent (feminine diligente, masculine plural diligents, feminine plural diligentes)

1. diligent (performing with intense concentration)

Derived terms

• diligemment

Related terms

• diligence

Further reading

• “diligent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Latin

Verb

dīligent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of dīligō

Romanian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin diligens, or borrowed from French diligent.

Adjective

diligent m or n (feminine singular diligentă, masculine plural diligenți, feminine/neuter plural diligente)

1. diligent

Declension

Declension of diligent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	diligent		diligentă	diligenți	diligente
	definite	diligentul		diligenta	diligenții	diligentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	diligent		diligente	diligenți	diligente
	definite	diligentului		diligentei	diligenților	diligentelor