innocence

innocence

English

Wikiquote

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English [Term?], from Old French inocence, from Latin innocentia. Displaced native Old English unsċyld.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnəsn̩s/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

innocence (countable and uncountable, plural innocences)

1. Absence of responsibility for a crime, tort, etc.

   Synonym: unguilt

   Antonym: guilt

   Her attorney managed to convince the jury of her innocence.

2. Lack of understanding about sensitive subjects such as sexuality and crime.

   Synonym: naivety

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess‎:

     Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:innocence.

   In his innocence, he offered the stranger to bring the package to Paris, never suspecting it contained drugs.

3. Lack of ability or intention to harm or damage.

   Synonym: harmlessness

   Antonym: harmfulness

   Tests have demonstrated the innocence of this substance.

   • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 96:

     His unruly hair was slicked down with water, and as Jessamy introduced him to Miss Brindle his face assumed a cherubic innocence which would immediately have aroused the suspicions of anyone who knew him.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:innocence.
4. (obsolete) Imbecility; mental deficiency.

Related terms

• innocent

Translations

absence of responsibility for a crime

Arabic: بَرَاءَة‎ (ar) f (barāʾa) Armenian: անմեղություն (hy) (anmełutʿyun) Belarusian: няві́ннасць f (njavínnascʹ), невінава́тасць f (njevinavátascʹ) Bulgarian: невинност (bg) f (nevinnost) Catalan: innocència (ca) f Czech: nevina f Dutch: onschuld (nl) Esperanto: senkulpeco Finnish: syyttömyys (fi) French: innocence (fr) f Galician: inocencia f German: Unschuld (de) f Gothic: 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐌺𐌽𐌴𐌹 f (swiknei) Greek: αθωότητα (el) f (athoótita) Hungarian: ártatlanság (hu) Icelandic: sakleysi n, sýkna f Italian: innocenza (it) f Japanese: 潔白 (ja) (keppaku), 無罪 (ja) (muzai) Korean: 결백 (ko) (gyeolbaek), 무죄 (ko) (mujoe) Latin: innocentia Latvian: nevainība f, nevainīgums m Malayalam: നിരപരാധിത്വം (niraparādhitvaṃ); നിഷ്കളങ്കത (ml) (niṣkaḷaṅkata) Old English: unsċyld f Polish: niewinność (pl) f Portuguese: inocência (pt) f Romanian: nevinovăție (ro) f Russian: неви́нность (ru) f (nevínnostʹ), невино́вность (ru) f (nevinóvnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: nȅvīnōst (sh) f, nȅdūžnōst (sh) f Slovene: nedolžnost f Spanish: inocencia (es) f Swedish: oskuld (sv) c, oskyldighet (sv) c Turkish: suçsuzluk (tr) Ukrainian: неви́нність (uk) f (nevýnnistʹ), невинува́тість f (nevynuvátistʹ)

lack of understanding about sensitive subjects such as sexuality and crime

Bulgarian: невинност (bg) f (nevinnost) Dutch: onschuld (nl) Finnish: viattomuus (fi) French: innocence (fr) f, candeur (fr) f Greek: αθωότητα (el) f (athoótita) Hungarian: ártatlanság (hu), naivság Icelandic: sakleysi n, barnaskapur m, grandaleysi n Japanese: 無邪気 (ja) (mujaki) Korean: 무사기 (musagi) Latin: pueritia f Latvian: nevainība f Malayalam: നിഷ്കളങ്കത (ml) (niṣkaḷaṅkata) Polish: niewinność (pl) f Portuguese: inocência (pt) f Russian: неви́нность (ru) f (nevínnostʹ) Slovene: nedolžnost f Swedish: oskuld (sv) c Tagalog: kawalang-muwang

lack of ability or intention to harm or damage

Finnish: vaarattomuus (fi) German: Harmlosigkeit f Greek: αθωότητα (el) f (athoótita) Hungarian: ártalmatlanság Icelandic: meinlaus m or f, meinlaust n, saklaus (is) m or f, saklaust n, skaðlaus (is) m or f, skaðlaust n Japanese: 無害 (ja) (mugai) Korean: 무해 (ko) (muhae), 무독 (ko) (mudok) Latvian: nevainība f Malayalam: നിഷ്കളങ്കത (ml) (niṣkaḷaṅkata) Old English: unsċaþfulnes f Polish: niewinność (pl) f Portuguese: inocência (pt) f Russian: неви́нность (ru) f (nevínnostʹ) Slovene: nedolžnost Swedish: harmlöshet (sv) c

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

Italian: (please verify) innocenza (it) f Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) ionracas m, (please verify) neo-chiontachd f, (please verify) neo-choireachd f

---

French

Etymology

From Old French inocence, a borrowing from Latin innocentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.nɔ.sɑ̃s/

Noun

innocence f (plural innocences)

1. innocence

Derived terms

• présomption d'innocence

Related terms

• innocent

Further reading

• “innocence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.