lukewarm

English

Etymology

From Middle English leukwarm, lukewarm (“lukewarm, tepid”), equivalent to luke (“lukewarm”) +‎ warm. Compare Saterland Frisian luukwoarm (“lukewarm”), German Low German luukwarm (“lukewarm”), German lauwarm (“lukewarm”). First element believed to be an alteration of Middle English lew (“tepid”) (> English dialectal lew), from Old English hlēow (“warm, sunny”), from Proto-Germanic *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz, *hlūmaz, *hleumaz (“warm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱel(w)e-, *k(')lēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Dutch lauw (“tepid”), German lau (“lukewarm”), Faroese lýggjur (“warm”), Swedish ljum (“lukewarm”), ljummen (“lukewarm”) and ly (“warm”), Danish lummer (“muggy”), Danish and Norwegian lunken (“tepid”), dialectal Swedish ljummen (“lukewarm”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌluːkˈwɔːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌlukˈwɔɹm/, /ˈluk.wɔɹm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

lukewarm (comparative lukewarmer or more lukewarm, superlative lukewarmest or most lukewarm)

1. (temperature) Between warm and cool.

   Synonyms: Laodicean, (dialect) lew, (rare) luke, tepid

   Coordinate term: underwarm

   Wash it in lukewarm water.

   My curry is lukewarm.

2. Unenthusiastic (about a proposal or an idea).

   Synonyms: indifferent, unconcerned; see also Thesaurus:apathetic

   The suggestion met with only a lukewarm response.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

Derived terms

• lukecold
• lukecool
• lukewarmism
• lukewarmist
• lukewarmth

 

Translations

temperature

• Albanian: vakët (sq)
• Arabic: فَاتِر (ar) (fātir)

  Egyptian Arabic: فاتر (fātir)

  Moroccan Arabic: دافي (dafi)

• Bashkir: имшеү (imşew), йылымыс (yılımıs), йылымса (yılımsa)
• Bulgarian: хладък (hladǎk)
• Catalan: tebi (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 溫 / 温 (wan¹)

  Mandarin: 溫 / 温 (zh) (wēn), 溫吞 / 温吞 (wēntūn)

• Czech: vlažný (cs)
• Danish: lunken
• Dutch: lauw (nl)
• Emilian: tevad
• Esperanto: varmeta
• Estonian: leige
• Finnish: haalea (fi)
• French: tiède (fr)
• Friulian: tivid
• Galician: tépedo (gl), morno (gl)
• German: lauwarm (de)
• Greek: χλιαρός (el) (chliarós)

  Ancient: χλιαρός (khliarós)

• Guaraní: akyvy
• Hebrew: פּוֹשֵׁר (he) (poshér)
• Hungarian: langyos (hu)
• Ido: varmeta (io)
• Indonesian: hangat-hangat
• Interlingua: tepide
• Irish: bog, alabhog, alathe, bogthe
• Italian: tiepido (it)
• Japanese: ぬるい (ja) (nurui), 生暖かい (ja) (nama-atatakai), 生ぬるい (namanurui)
• Kazakh: қанжылым (qanjylym)
• Khiamniungan Naga: tānglāmlām
• Korean: 미지근한 (mijigeunhan)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: شلتێن (şiltên)

• Latgalian: rondons
• Latin: tepidus
• Latvian: remdens
• Macedonian: млак (mlak)
• Malay: suam
• Maori: aromahana
• Marathi: कोमट (komaṭ)
• Norman: tchiède (Jersey)
• Norwegian: lunken (no)
• Persian: ولرم (fa) (velarm)
• Polish: letni (pl)
• Portuguese: morno (pt), tépido (pt)
• Quechua: pari
• Romagnol: tevvd
• Russian: теплова́тый (ru) (teplovátyj), чуть тёплый (čutʹ tjóplyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: flodach
• Serbo-Croatian: mlako (sh)
• Slovak: vlažný
• Slovene: mlačen (sl)
• Spanish: tibio (es), templado (es)
• Swedish: ljum (sv), ljummen (sv)
• Tagalog: maligamgam
• Telugu: గోరువెచ్చని (te) (gōruveccani)
• Thai: อุ่นๆ (oon-oon)
• Turkish: ılık (tr)
• Ukrainian: теплуватий (tepluvatyj)
• Vietnamese: ấm (vi), âm ấm (vi)
• Walloon: tiene (wa)
• Welsh: llugoer (cy)
• West Frisian: lij

not very enthusiastic

• Catalan: tebi (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不热情的, 冷淡的

• Czech: vlažný (cs)
• Dutch: lauw (nl), flauw (nl)
• Esperanto: indiferenta (eo), neentuziasma
• Finnish: vaimea (fi), laimea (fi)
• French: tiède (fr)
• Galician: morno (gl)
• German: lau (de)
• Greek: χλιαρός (el) (chliarós)
• Hungarian: lagymatag (hu)
• Ido: nezeloza
• Interlingua: tepide
• Irish: fuarbhruite, fuarspreosach, lagspreosach, patuar, fuarchráifeach (in religion)
• Italian: tiepido (it)
• Japanese: 冷めた (sameta), 白けた (shiraketa), 気が進まない (ki ga susumanai)
• Khiamniungan Naga: tānglāmlām
• Macedonian: млак (mlak)
• Norwegian: lunken (no)
• Ottoman Turkish: یوركسز (yüreksiz)
• Polish: chłodny (pl), sceptyczny (pl), zdystansowany
• Portuguese: morno (pt)
• Russian: прохла́дный (ru) (proxládnyj), равноду́шный (ru) (ravnodúšnyj), безразли́чный (ru) (bezrazlíčnyj)
• Slovak: vlažný
• Spanish: tibio (es), poco entusiasta, desinteresado (es), indiferente (es)
• Swedish: ljum (sv), likgiltig (sv)
• Turkish: umursamaz (tr), ilgisiz (tr), kayıtsız (tr)
• Vietnamese: thờ ơ (vi), lãnh đạm (vi), hờ hững (vi)

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

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} suam-suam kuku
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} vamülik (vo)