Standard Lemma guide

euphemistic

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌjuːfəˈmɪstɪk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW2 F AH0 M IH1 S T IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to euphemism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: uneuphemistic

2

adjective

Meaning 2

substituting a mild term for a harsher or distasteful one

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • `peepee' is a common euphemistic term

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: inoffensive

Antonyms: dysphemistic

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English euphemism Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τῐκός (-tĭkós)bor. English -tic English euphemistic From euphemism + -tic.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: eufemísticu — of euphemism
  • Catalan: eufemístic — of euphemism
  • Chinese Mandarin: 委婉的 (wéiwǎnde) — of euphemism
  • Chinese Mandarin: 婉言 (wǎn yán) — of euphemism
  • Czech: eufemistický — of euphemism
  • Danish: forskønnende — of euphemism
  • Danish: eufemistisk — of euphemism
  • Finnish: kaunisteleva — of euphemism
  • Finnish: eufemistinen — of euphemism
  • French: euphémique — of euphemism
  • Galician: eufemístico — of euphemism
  • German: beschönigend — of euphemism
  • German: verhüllend — of euphemism
  • German: euphemistisch — of euphemism
  • Hungarian: eufemisztikus — of euphemism
  • Italian: eufemistico — of euphemism
  • Japanese: 婉曲の (enkyoku no) — of euphemism
  • Japanese: 遠回しの (tōmawashi no) — of euphemism
  • Korean: 완곡(婉曲)하다 (wan'gokhada) — of euphemism
  • Latin: euphemisticus — of euphemism
  • Polish: eufemistyczny — of euphemism
  • Portuguese: eufemístico — of euphemism
  • Russian: эвфемисти́ческий (evfemistíčeskij) — of euphemism
  • Spanish: eufemístico — of euphemism
  • Tagalog: pahimanin — of euphemism
  • Welsh: mwytheiriol — of euphemism
  • Welsh: llednais — of euphemism