fearless

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.

Proto-Germanic *feranąder.

Proto-Germanic *fērizder.

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Germanic *-ōder.

Proto-Germanic *fērō

Proto-West Germanic *fāru

Old English fǣr

Middle English fere

English fear

Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.

Proto-Germanic *leusaną

Proto-Germanic *lausaz

Proto-Germanic *-lausaz

Proto-West Germanic *-laus

Old English -lēas

Middle English -les

English -less

English fearless

From fear + -less.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɹləs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪələs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)ləs
• Hyphenation: fear‧less

Adjective

fearless (comparative more fearless, superlative most fearless)

1. Without fear.
   • 1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 3:

     "Our fearless reporter"... I'm not fearless, John. I don't like this.

   • 1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 207:

     England's wicket-keeper in the 50s, he was fearless about standing on the stumps to fastish bowlers[.]

Synonyms

• frightless
• brave
• courageous

Antonyms

• scared
• afraid
• fearful
• shy
• timid
• cowardly
• chicken

Derived terms

• fearlessness
• fearlessly

Translations

free from fear — see also intrepid

• Amharic: ደፋር (däfar)
• Arabic: جريء m (jarīʔ), جريئة f (jarīʔa)
• Armenian: անվախ (hy) (anvax)
• Azerbaijani: qorxmaz (az)
• Belarusian: бясстра́шны (be) (bjasstrášny)
• Bulgarian: безстра́шен (bg) (bezstrášen), неустраши́м (bg) (neustraším)
• Catalan: impàvid (ca), intrèpid (ca)
• Cherokee: ᏍᎦᏎᏅ (sgasenv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不怕的 (zh) (bùpà de), 大膽的 / 大胆的 (zh) (dàdǎn de)

• Czech: nebojácný m
• Danish: frygtløs, uforfærdet
• Dutch: onbevreesd (nl)
• Esperanto: sentima
• Finnish: peloton (fi)
• French: courageux (fr), brave (fr), intrépide (fr)
• Galician: destemido
• Georgian: უშიშარი (ušišari), გაბედული (gabeduli), მამაცი (mamaci), შეუპოვარი (šeuṗovari)
• German: furchtlos (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (unagands)
• Greek: άφοβος (el) (áfovos)

  Ancient Greek: ἄφοβος (áphobos), ἀδεής (adeḗs)

• Hindi: निर्भीक (hi) m (nirbhīk), निडर (hi) (niḍar), निर्भय (hi) (nirbhay)
• Hungarian: rettenthetetlen (hu), félelmetlen, féletlen (archaic)
• Italian: senza paura, impavido (it)
• Jamaican Creole: tallawah
• Japanese: 大胆な (ja) (だいたんな, daitan na), 恐れない (ja) (おそれない, osorenai)
• Latin: impavidus, intrepidus
• Lithuanian: bebaimis
• Macedonian: бестрашен (bestrašen)
• Māori: mātātoa, wehikore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fryktløs

  Nynorsk: fryktlaus

• Old English: unforht
• Persian: نترس (fa) (natars)
• Plautdietsch: forchtlooss
• Polish: nieustraszony (pl)
• Portuguese: destemido (pt), impávido (pt)
• Russian: бесстра́шный (ru) (besstrášnyj), неустраши́мый (ru) (neustrašímyj)
• Sanskrit: वीतभी (sa) (vītabhī)
• Serbo-Croatian: neustràšiv (sh), неустрашив
• Slovak: nebojácny
• Spanish: impávido (es), sin miedo, denodado (es)
• Swedish: orädd (sv)
• Telugu: నిర్భయము (te) (nirbhayamu), భయములేని (te) (bhayamulēni)
• Turkish: korkusuz (tr), yılmaz (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: قورقوسز (korkusuz)

• Ukrainian: безстра́шний (uk) (bezstrášnyj)

See also

• unafraid
• intrepid
• courageous