hesitate

English

Alternative forms

• hæsitate (archaic)

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

Latin haesitātusbor.

English hesitate

Borrowed from Latin haesitātus, perfect passive participle of haesitō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), intensive of haereō (“to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold fast”). Displaced native Old English wandian. Compare French hésiter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛz.ɪ.teɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛz.ə.teɪt/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈhez.ə.tæɪt/

Verb

hesitate (third-person singular simple present hesitates, present participle hesitating, simple past and past participle hesitated)

1. (intransitive) To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.

   He hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often hesitate in forming a judgment.

   • September 1, 1742, Alexander Pope, letter to Racine

     I shall not hesitate to declare myself very cordially, in regard to some particulars about which you have desired an answer.

2. (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking.
3. (transitive, poetic, rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
   • a. 1724, Alexander Pope, The Ms. at Longleat:

     Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (to stop respecting decision or action): demur, falter, mammer, scruple, waver; see also Thesaurus:hesitate
• (to falter in speaking): balbucinate, balbutiate, falter, hem, haw, stammer, stutter, stumble
• (to utter with hesitation): falter

Derived terms

• hesitant
• hesitater
• hesitating
• hesitation
• hesitative
• hesitatory

Translations

to stop or pause respecting decision or action

• Albanian: druaj (sq)
• Arabic: تَرَدَّدَ (ar) (taraddada)

  Egyptian Arabic: اتردد (etraded)

• Armenian: վարանել (hy) (varanel), տատանվել (hy) (tatanvel)
• Azerbaijani: tərəddüd etmək
• Bashkir: икеләнеү (ekiläniw)
• Basque: zalantzan egon
• Belarusian: хіста́цца impf (xistácca), вага́цца (be) impf (vahácca)
• Bulgarian: колеба́я се impf (kolebája se), двоумя се impf (dvoumja se), чудя се impf (čudja se)
• Catalan: hesitar (ca), dubtar (ca)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: váhat (cs) impf
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} tøve (da), ^{(please verify)} nøle, ^{(please verify)} vakle, have/nære ^{(please verify)} betænkeligheder
• Dutch: aarzelen (nl)
• Egyptian: (sjnj)
• Esperanto: heziti
• Finnish: epäröidä (fi), aikailla (fi), empiä (fi), viivytellä (fi), vitkastella (fi)
• French: hésiter (fr)
• Galician: dubidar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: zögern (de)
• Greek: διστάζω (el) (distázo)

  Ancient Greek: ὀκνέω (oknéō), αἰσχύνομαι (aiskhúnomai), φοβέομαι (phobéomai)

• Hebrew: היסס (hisés)
• Hungarian: tétovázik (hu), habozik (hu), hezitál (hu)
• Indonesian: ragu (id)
• Italian: esitare (it), titubare (it)
• Japanese: ためらう (ja) (tamerau), 躊躇する (ja) (ちゅうちょする, chūcho suru), 躊躇う (ja) (tamerau)
• Kazakh: баяулату (bayawlatuw), күмәндану (kümändanuw), бұраландау (buralandaw), дүдәмал болу (düdämal boluw)
• Khmer: ទីមទាម (km) (tiimtiəm), ទីទើរ (km) (tiitəə), តេងតាង (km) (teengtaang), ញីញញូញ (km) (ñiiññuuñ), ច្រេញច្រុញ (km) (crəñcroñ), ច្រិមច្រុម (km) (crəmcrom)
• Korean: 망설이다 (ko) (mangseorida)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دوودڵ بوون (dûdill bûn)

• Latin: haesitō, dubito (la)
• Lithuanian: dvejoti (lt) impf, svyruoti impf
• Luxembourgish: zécken
• Macedonian: се колеба impf (se koleba)
• Māori: tawhitawhi, kōrapa
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: nøle med å

  Bokmål: nøle (no)

• Old English: wandian
• Polish: wahać się (pl) impf
• Portuguese: hesitar (pt), vacilar (pt), titubear (pt)
• Quechua: iskayyay
• Romanian: ezita (ro), șovăi (ro), pregeta (ro), a se codi (ro)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), ме́длить (ru) impf (médlitʹ), сомнева́ться (ru) impf (somnevátʹsja)
• Scots: swither
• Scottish Gaelic: sòr
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оклевати impf (Ekavian), оклијевати impf (Ijekavian), колебати impf, поколебати pf, двоумити impf, нећкати pf

  Latin: oklevati (sh) impf (Ekavian), oklijevati (sh) impf (Ijekavian), kolebati (sh) impf, pokolebati (sh) pf, dvoumiti (sh) impf, nećkati pf

• Sicilian: trantulijari
• Slovak: váhať impf
• Spanish: vacilar (es), dudar (es), hesitar (es), titubear (es)
• Swedish: tveka (sv)
• Tagalog: magdalawang-isip
• Tamil: தயங்கு (ta) (tayaṅku)
• Thai: ลังเล (th) (lang-lee)
• Turkish: çekinmek (tr), kararsız kalmak, tereddüt etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: колива́тися impf (kolyvátysja), хита́тися impf (xytátysja), вага́тися (uk) impf (vahátysja)
• Vietnamese: chần chừ (vi), do dự (vi)

to stammer; to falter in speaking

• Bulgarian: заеквам (bg) (zaekvam), заекна (zaekna)
• Catalan: titubejar (ca)
• Czech: zaváhat (cs)
• Danish: stamme (da), hakke i det
• Finnish: epäröidä (fi)
• French: hésiter (fr)
• German: zögern (de), stammeln (de)
• Kazakh: кекештену (kekeštenüw), тұтығу (tutığuw)
• Polish: jąkać się (pl)
• Russian: запина́ться (ru) impf (zapinátʹsja), запну́ться (ru) pf (zapnútʹsja), заика́ться (ru) impf (zaikátʹsja), заикну́ться (ru) pf (zaiknútʹsja)
• Scots: hover
• Tamil: திக்கு (ta) (tikku), குழறு (kuḻaṟu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} dubitare (la)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kolebati (sh), ^{(please verify)} časiti (sh)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} tveka (sv), ^{(please verify)} dröja (sv)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• athetise, hatesite

Spanish

Verb

hesitate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of hesitar combined with te