allegiance

English

Alternative forms

allegiaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English alegiaunce, from Anglo-Norman alegaunce (“loyalty of a liege-servant to one's lord”), variant of Old French ligeance, from lige (“vassal, liegeman”). More at liege.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /əˈliː.d͡ʒəns/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

allegiance (countable and uncountable, plural allegiances)

Loyalty to some cause, nation or ruler.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 83:
  With what a feeling of joyful security did her heart go back to its old allegiance! Till now she had scarcely been aware of its strength, for she had known it but by its disappointment—now she fully admitted that early and passionate emotion with which Robert Evelyn had inspired her was indeed her destiny;...
Synonyms: adherence, fidelity, loyalty

Derived terms

oath of allegiance
pledge of allegiance

Translations

loyalty to some cause, nation or ruler

Bulgarian: вярност (bg) (vjarnost), преданост (bg) (predanost), лоялност (bg) (lojalnost)
Catalan: lleialtat (ca) f, fidelitat (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 忠誠／忠诚 (zh) (zhōngchéng)
Czech: oddanost f
Danish: troskap c
Dutch: trouw (nl), getrouwheid, loyaliteit (nl), trouwhartigheid, aanhang (nl) m
Esperanto: fideleco
Faroese: trúskapur m
Finnish: kuuliaisuus (fi), uskollisuus (fi)
French: fidélité (fr) f, loyauté (fr) f, allégeance (fr) f
German: Treue (de), Loyalität (de), Treuherzigkeit (de), Gefolgschaft (de) f, Gefolgschaftstreue f
Irish: dílseacht f
Italian: fedeltà (it), lealtà (it)
Japanese: 忠誠 (ja) (ちゅうせい chūsei)
Korean: 충성 (ko) (chungseong)
Latin: allegiantia f, fidēlitās, fidēs, dēvōtiō, obsequium n
Maori: piripono
Middle English: legiaunce, alegiaunce
Norwegian:
Bokmål: troskap m, truskap m
Nynorsk: truskap m
Papiamentu: fidelidat
Persian: تعهد‎ (fa) (ta'ahhod), وفاداری‎ (fa) (vafâdâri)
Polish: wierność (pl), posłuszeństwo (pl), lojalność (pl)
Portuguese: fidelidade (pt), lealdade (pt), adesão (pt) f
Romanian: fidelitate (ro) f, loialitate (ro) f, credință (ro) f
Russian: ве́рность (ru) f (vérnostʹ), пре́данность (ru) f (prédannostʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: odanost (sh), lojalnost (sh)
Slovene: zvestoba (sl) f
Spanish: fidelidad (es) f, lealtad (es) f
Swedish: lojalitet (sv), trohet (sv) c

References

Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.