blandish

English

Etymology

From Middle English blaundishen (“to flatter; to fawn; to be enticing or persuasive; to be favourable; of the sea: to become calm”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman blaundishen, from blandiss-, the extended stem of Middle French blandir + Middle English -ishen (suffix forming verbs). Blandir is derived from Latin blandīrī, the present active infinitive of blandior (“to fawn, flatter; to delude”), from blandus (“fawning, flattering, smooth, suave; persuasive; alluring, enticing, seductive; agreeable, pleasant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)) + -iō (suffix forming causative verbs from adjectives). The English word is analysable as bland +‎ -ish; compare bland (“agreeable, pleasant, suave; mild, soothing”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: blăndĭsh, IPA^(key): /ˈblændɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ændɪʃ
• Hyphenation: bland‧ish

Verb

blandish (third-person singular simple present blandishes, present participle blandishing, simple past and past participle blandished)

1. (transitive) To persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole.
2. (transitive) To praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up.

Derived terms

• blandisher
• blandishment

Translations

to persuade someone by using flattery; to cajole

• Bulgarian: придумвам чрез ласкателство (pridumvam črez laskatelstvo)
• Dutch: vleien (nl)
• German: zureden (de)
• Russian: угова́ривать (ru) (ugovárivatʹ)
• Turkish: dil dökmek

to praise someone dishonestly; to flatter or butter up

• Bulgarian: лаская (bg) (laskaja)
• Czech: lichotit (cs) impf, pochlebovat (cs) impf
• Dutch: vleien (nl)
• Hungarian: hízeleg (hu)
• Turkish: yağlamak (tr), yağ çekmek