merit

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• Received-Pronunciation: mĕrʹĭt
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɛɹɪt/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɛɹət/
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• General-American: /ˈmɛɹɪt/
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• General-American: /ˈmɛɹət/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɛɹɪt
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• CMU ARPABET: M EH1 R AH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.

From Middle English meriten, from Middle French meriter, Old French meriter (“to deserve, merit”) (modern French mériter), from merite: see further in Etymology 1. The word is cognate with Italian meritare (“to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn”), Latin meritāre (“to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier”), Spanish meritar (“to deserve, merit; to earn”).

107 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: جَدَارَة (jadāra) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Bulgarian: заслуга (zasluga) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Catalan: mèrit — claim to commendation or a reward
• Chinese Mandarin: 功勞 /功劳 (gōng láo) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Chinese Mandarin: 功績 /功绩 (gōngjì) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Danish: fordel — claim to commendation or a reward
• Dutch: verdienste — claim to commendation or a reward
• Finnish: ansio — claim to commendation or a reward
• French: mérite — claim to commendation or a reward
• Friulian: mert — claim to commendation or a reward
• Georgian: დამსახურება (damsaxureba) — claim to commendation or a reward
• German: Verdienst — claim to commendation or a reward
• Hindi: क़द्र (qadra) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Italian: merito — claim to commendation or a reward
• Japanese: 価値 (kachi) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Korean: 장점 (jangjeom) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Ladin: merit — claim to commendation or a reward
• Latin: meritum — claim to commendation or a reward
• Macedonian: за́слуга (zásluga) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Malayalam: യോഗ്യത (yōgyata) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Malayalam: അർഹത (aṟhata) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Polish: zaleta — claim to commendation or a reward
• Portuguese: mérito — claim to commendation or a reward
• Romanian: merit — claim to commendation or a reward
• Russian: заслу́га (zaslúga) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Russian: достоинство (dostoinstvo) — claim to commendation or a reward
• Serbo-Croatian: zasluga — claim to commendation or a reward
• Sicilian: mèritu — claim to commendation or a reward
• Sicilian: mèrutu — claim to commendation or a reward
• Slovene: odlika — claim to commendation or a reward
• Spanish: mérito — claim to commendation or a reward
• Swedish: förtjänst — claim to commendation or a reward
• Turkish: liyakat — claim to commendation or a reward
• Serbo-Croatian: oznaka kvalitete — mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence
• Bulgarian: качество (kačestvo) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Catalan: mèrit — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Czech: zásluha — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Dutch: verdienste — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Esperanto: merito — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Finnish: saavutus — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Finnish: ansio — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Finnish: hyvä työ — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• French: mérite — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Hindi: गुण (guṇ) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Hindi: क़द्र (qadra) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Italian: merito — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Italian: merto — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Ladin: merit — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Macedonian: за́слуга (zásluga) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Macedonian: вре́дност (vrédnost) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Malayalam: ഗുണം (guṇaṁ) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Polish: zasługa — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Portuguese: mérito — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Russian: заслуга (zasluga) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Sanskrit: गुण (guṇa) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Serbo-Croatian: zasluga — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Slovene: zasluga — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Slovene: vrednost — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Spanish: mérito — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Spanish: merecimiento — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Swedish: förtjänst — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Turkish: liyakat — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Ukrainian: заслу́га (zaslúha) — something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward
• Burmese: ကုသိုလ် (ku.suil) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Burmese: ပုည (pu.nya.) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Chinese Mandarin: 福德 (fúdé) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Hindi: पुण्य (puṇya) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Khmer: បុណ្យ (bon) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Korean: 공덕 (gongdeok) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Lao: ບຸນ (bun) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Lü: ᦢᦳᧃ (ḃun) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Mongolian: буян (bujan) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Pali: puñña — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Russian: пу́нья (púnʹja) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Sanskrit: पुण्य (puṇya) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Telugu: పుణ్యము (puṇyamu) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Thai: บุญ (bun) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Tibetan: བསོད་ནམས (bsod nams) — (Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does
• Arabic: استحق (istaḥaʔʔ) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Arabic: اِسْتاهَل (istaahaal) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Catalan: merèixer — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Esperanto: meriti — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Finnish: oikeuttaa — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• French: mériter — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Middle French: meriter — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Old French: meriter — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Friulian: mertâ — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Italian: meritare — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Latin: ēmereō — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Macedonian: за́служи (zásluži) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Malayalam: അർഹിക്കുക (aṟhikkuka) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Norman: méthiter — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Russian: заслу́живать (zaslúživatʹ) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Russian: заслужи́ть (zaslužítʹ) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Sanskrit: अर्हति (arhati) — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Serbo-Croatian: zaslužiti — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Serbo-Croatian: zavrijediti — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Spanish: meritar — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Spanish: ameritar — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Venetan: meritar — to deserve, earn — see also deserve, earn
• Bulgarian: заслужавам (zaslužavam) — to be deserving or worthy
• Catalan: merèixer — to be deserving or worthy
• Italian: meritare — to be deserving or worthy
• Macedonian: за́служи (zásluži) — to be deserving or worthy
• Malayalam: അർഹിക്കുക (aṟhikkuka) — to be deserving or worthy
• Sanskrit: अर्हति (arhati) — to be deserving or worthy
• Venetan: meritar — to be deserving or worthy