hesitation

See also: hésitation

English

Alternative forms

• hæsitation (chiefly archaic) [18^th–19^th C.]

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin haereō

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tos

Latin -tus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin -tō

▲

Latin -tō

Latin -itō

Latin -titō

Latin haesitō

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin haesitātiōbor.

English hesitation

From Latin haesitātiōnem, accusative singular of haesitātiō (“hesitating, stammering”), from haesitō (“hesitate”). Displaced native Old English ġewand.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˌhezɪˈtæɪʃən/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌhezəˈtæɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

hesitation (countable and uncountable, plural hesitations)

1. An act of hesitating
2. Doubt; vacillation.

   She carried out the order without hesitation.

3. A faltering in speech; stammering.

Synonyms

• (act of hesitating): cunctation, hesitance, hesitancy, hold-up, shilly-shally; see also Thesaurus:delay
• (doubt, vacillation): irresolution, wavering

Derived terms

• hesitational
• hesitation form
• hesitation mark
• hesitation marker
• hesitation wound

Related terms

• hesitate

Translations

doubt; vacillation

• Albanian: ndrojtje (sq)
• Esperanto: hezitado
• German: Zögern n
• Tamil: தயக்கம் (ta) (tayakkam)
• Turkish: duraksama (tr) (rare), tereddüt (tr)

Translations

act of hesitating — see also vacillation,‎ doubt

• Albanian: drojë (sq), ngurrim (sq) m
• Azerbaijani: tərəddüd
• Bulgarian: колебание (bg) n (kolebanie), нерешителност (bg) f (nerešitelnost)
• Catalan: hesitació f, vacil·lació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 躊躇 / 踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 猶豫 / 犹豫 (zh) (yóuyù), 遲疑 / 迟疑 (zh) (chíyí), 彷徨 (zh) (pánghuáng)

• Czech: váhání (cs) n
• Dutch: aarzeling (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉi hezito
• Finnish: empiminen (fi), epäröinti (fi)
• French: hésitation (fr) f
• Galician: vacilación (gl) f
• German: Zögern n
• Greek: δισταγμός (el) m (distagmós)

  Ancient Greek: ὄκνος m (óknos)

• Hindi: संकोच (hi) m (saṅkoc)
• Hungarian: habozás (hu), hezitálás (hu), bizonytalankodás (hu)
• Indonesian: keragu-raguan
• Italian: esitazione (it) f
• Japanese: 躊躇 (ja) (chūcho), ためらい (ja) (tamerai)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dudilî (ku) f, dilwasî (ku) f

• Latin: cunctātiō f, haesitātiō f
• Luxembourgish: Zécken n
• Old English: ġewand n
• Polish: wahanie (pl) n, niezdecydowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: hesitação (pt) f
• Romanian: ezitare (ro) f, șovăială (ro) f
• Russian: нереши́тельность (ru) f (nerešítelʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgogarsaich f, sòradh m
• Spanish: hesitación (es) f, titubeo (es) m
• Swedish: tvekan (sv) c
• Tamil: தயக்கம் (ta) (tayakkam)
• Turkish: tereddüt (tr)

faltering in speech

• Bulgarian: заекване n (zaekvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 支吾 (zh) (zhīwu), 吞吐 (zh) (tūntǔ), 口吃 (zh) (kǒuchī), 結巴 / 结巴 (zh) (jiéba)

• Czech: zaváhání n
• Finnish: takeltelu
• German: Zögern n
• Hindi: झिझक (hi) m (jhijhak)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: heziqîn (ku) f

• Scottish Gaelic: sòradh m
• Tamil: தடுமாற்றம் (ta) (taṭumāṟṟam)