optimist

See also: Optimist

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi

Proto-Indo-European *-tm̥mos

?

Latin optimus

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor.

Latin -ismuslbor.

French -isme

French optim(isme)

▲

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Hellenic *-tās

Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs)

Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor.

Latin -istalbor.

French -iste

French optimistebor.

English optimist

Borrowed from French optimiste.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑptɪmɪst/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒptɪmɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

optimist (plural optimists)

1. A person who expects a favourable outcome.
   • 1947 September 27, Richard R. Werry, “An American Beginning for International Education”, in School and Society, volume 66, number 1709, Lancaster, Pa.: The Society for the Advancement of Education, Inc., page 238:

     We are becoming as a nation, as a world, indeed, atom-conscious. Many of us are already afflicted with atomphobia, though so far it has manifested itself only in a mirage of autoaeromotive discs and a war of words between chronic optimists and empirical pessimists concerning civilization’s probable future.

   • 2017, Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Ronnlund, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 June 2026:

     People often call me an optimist, because I show them the enormous progress they didn't know about. That makes me angry. I'm not an optimist. That makes me sound naive. I'm a very serious “possibilist”. That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly resists the overdramatic worldview. As a possibilist, I see all this progress, and it fills me with conviction and hope that further progress is possible. This is not optimistic. It is having a clear and reasonable idea about how things are. It is having a worldview that is constructive and useful.;

2. A believer in optimism.

Antonyms

• pessimist

Derived terms

• antioptimist
• cyberoptimist
• optimistic
• pessoptimist
• poptimist
• skeptimist
• techno-optimist

Related terms

• optimism
• optimal

Translations

a person who expects a favourable outcome

• Arabic: مُتَفَائِل (mutafāʔil)
• Armenian: լավատես (hy) (lavates)
• Azerbaijani: nikbin, nikbin adam
• Catalan: optimista (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樂天派 / 乐天派 (zh) (lètiānpài)

• Czech: optimista (cs) m
• Dutch: optimist (nl) m
• Esperanto: optimisto
• Finnish: optimisti (fi)
• French: optimiste (fr) m or f
• Galician: optimista m or f
• Georgian: ოპტიმისტი (oṗṭimisṭi)
• German: Optimist (de) m, Optimistin (de) f
• Greek: αισιόδοξος (el) (aisiódoxos)
• Hebrew: אופטימי (he) m (optími), אופטימיסט m (optimíst)
• Hungarian: optimista (hu)
• Ido: optimisto (io)
• Japanese: 楽観主義者 (らっかんしゅぎしゃ, rakkan-shugisha)
• Latvian: optimists m
• Lithuanian: optimistas m
• Māori: kiri mariu
• Marathi: आशावादी m or f (āśāvādī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: optimist m

  Nynorsk: optimist m

• Polish: optymista (pl) m, optymistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: otimista (pt) m or f
• Romanian: optimist (ro) m, optimistă (ro) f
• Russian: оптими́ст (ru) m (optimíst), оптими́стка (ru) f (optimístka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оптѝмист m

  Latin: optìmist (sh) m

• Spanish: optimista (es) m or f
• Swedish: optimist (sv) c
• Turkish: optimist (tr), iyimser (tr), nikbin (tr) (archaic)
• Ukrainian: оптиміст m (optymist)
• Vietnamese: người lạc quan
• Volapük: (♂♀) frediman (vo), (♂) hifrediman, (♀) jifrediman

a believer in optimism

• Armenian: լավատես (hy) (lavates)
• Catalan: optimista (ca) m or f
• Dutch: optimist (nl) m
• French: optimiste (fr) m or f
• German: Optimist (de) m, Optimistin (de) f
• Hebrew: אופטימי (he) m (optími), אופטימיסט m (optimíst)
• Japanese: 楽観主義者 (らっかんしゅぎしゃ, rakkan-shugisha)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: optimist m

  Nynorsk: optimist m

• Portuguese: otimista (pt) m or f
• Russian: оптими́ст (ru) m (optimíst), оптими́стка (ru) f (optimístka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оптѝмист m

  Latin: optìmist (sh) m

• Swedish: optimist (sv) c
• Turkish: optimist (tr), iyimser (tr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) frediman (vo), (♂) hifrediman, (♀) jifrediman

a small centre-board sailing dinghy

• Dutch: optimist (nl) m
• Finnish: optimistijolla (fi)
• Hebrew: אופטימיסט m (optimíst)
• Norwegian: Optimist m

  Bokmål: optimistjolle m or f

  Nynorsk: optimistjolle f

• Swedish: optimistjolle c

Danish

Etymology

From French optimiste.

Noun

optimist c (singular definite optimisten, plural indefinite optimister)

1. optimist

   Antonym: pessimist

Declension

Declension of optimist

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	optimist	optimisten	optimister	optimisterne
genitive	optimists	optimistens	optimisters	optimisternes

References

• “optimist” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “optimist” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French optimiste, from Latin optimus +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɔp.tiˈmɪst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: op‧ti‧mist
• Rhymes: -ɪst

Noun

optimist m (plural optimisten, diminutive optimistje n, female equivalent optimiste)

1. optimist

   Antonym: pessimist

Derived terms

• optimiste
• optimistisch
• rasoptimist

Related terms

• optimisme

Descendants

• → Indonesian: optimis

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

optimist m (definite singular optimisten, indefinite plural optimister, definite plural optimistene)

1. an optimist (a person who expects a favourable outcome, or a believer in optimism)

   Antonym: pessimist

Derived terms

• tidsoptimist

Related terms

• optimisme

References

• “optimist” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “optimist” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

optimist m (definite singular optimisten, indefinite plural optimistar, definite plural optimistane)

1. an optimist (as above)

   Antonym: pessimist

Derived terms

• tidsoptimist

Related terms

• optimisme

References

• “optimist” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi

Proto-Indo-European *-tm̥mos

?

Latin optimus

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor.

Latin -ismuslbor.

French -isme

French optim(isme)

▲

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Hellenic *-tās

Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs)

Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor.

Latin -istalbor.

French -iste

French optimistebor.

Romanian optimist

Borrowed from French optimiste. By surface analysis, optim + -ist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /op.tiˈmist/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

optimist m or n (feminine singular optimistă, masculine plural optimiști, feminine/neuter plural optimiste)

1. optimistic

Declension

Declension of optimist

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	optimist		optimistă	optimiști	optimiste
	definite	optimistul		optimista	optimiștii	optimistele
genitive- dative	indefinite	optimist		optimiste	optimiști	optimiste
	definite	optimistului		optimistei	optimiștilor	optimistelor

Noun

optimist m (plural optimiști, feminine equivalent optimistă)

1. optimist

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	optimist	optimistul	optimiști	optimiștii
genitive-dative	optimist	optimistului	optimiști	optimiștilor
vocative	optimistule		optimiștilor

Swedish

Noun

optimist c

1. an optimist

   Antonym: pessimist

Declension

Declension of optimist

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	optimist	optimists
	definite	optimisten	optimistens
plural	indefinite	optimister	optimisters
	definite	optimisterna	optimisternas

Related terms

• optimism
• optimistisk

See also

• optimistjolle

References

• “optimist”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “optimist”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)