danger

English

Etymology

From Middle English daunger (“power, dominion, peril”), from Anglo-Norman dangier, from Old French dangier, alteration of Old French dongier (due to association with Latin damnum (“damage”)) from Vulgar Latin *dominārium (“authority, power”) from Latin dominus (“lord, master”). Displaced native Old English frēcennes.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪn.d͡ʒɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: dan‧ger
• Rhymes: -eɪndʒə(ɹ)

Noun

danger (countable and uncountable, plural dangers)

1. Exposure to likely harm; peril.

   There's plenty of danger in the desert.

   • 1821, William Hazlitt, “Essay IX. The Indian Jugglers.”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume I, London: John Warren, […], →OCLC, page 187:

     Danger is a good teacher, and makes apt scholars.

   • 2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022:

     We determined that the car driver’s transportation of multiple teen passengers, limited driving experience, and likely impairment from effects of cannabis at the time of the crash adversely affected her judgment of the danger of entering the intersection in front of the approaching combination vehicle.

2. An instance or cause of likely harm.
   • 1st September 1884, William Gladstone, Second Midlothian Speech

     Two territorial questions […] unsettled […] each of which was a positive danger to the peace of Europe.

3. (obsolete) Mischief.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     We put a Sting in him, / That at his will he may doe danger with.

4. (mainly outside US, rail transport) The stop indication of a signal (usually in the phrase "at danger").

   The north signal was at danger because of the rockslide.

5. (obsolete) Ability to harm; someone's dominion or power to harm or penalise. See in one's danger, below.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 180:

     You stand within his danger, do you not?

   • 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:

     Covetousness of gains hath brought [them] in danger of this statute.

6. (obsolete) Liability.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:

     Thou shalt not kyll. Whosoever shall kyll, shalbe in daunger of iudgement.

7. (obsolete) Difficulty; sparingness; hesitation.
   • 1500, Melusine:

     They of Coloyne made grete daunger to lete passe the oost thrughe the Cite at brydge.

   • 1570, A. Dalaber, J. Foxe Actes & Monuments:

     I made daunger of it a while at first, but afterward beyng persuaded by them..I promised to do as they would haue me.

   • 1652, John Fletcher, The Wild-Goose Chase:

     I shall make danger, sure.

8. (UK, derogatory) A contemptible person, especially one seen as perverted or mentally ill.
   • 2017 July 28, Gary Ogden, “Ridiculous food combinations that are actually really tasty”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1]:

     Pineapple and pizza. ONLY JOKING YOU FUCKING DANGER.

   • 2019 July 31, Oonagh Keating, quoting Stephen Patten, “We asked you to caption a photo of Boris Johnson holding a chicken – our 19 favourites”, in The Poke‎^[2]:

     Why did the chicken cross the road?
     "To try and get away from you, you absolute danger. I've heard all about you posh boy Etonians and farmyard animals"

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:danger

Derived terms

• a danger foreseen is half avoided
• danger area
• dangerful
• danger in delay
• danger is one's middle name
• dangerless
• dangerman
• danger money
• danger noodle
• danger pay
• danger signal
• danger-signal
• dangersome
• danger space
• danger wank
• danger zone
• gap of danger
• in danger
• indanger
• kicking in danger
• signal passed at danger
• stranger danger

 

Translations

exposure to likely harm

• Afrikaans: gevaar
• Albanian: rrezik (sq) m
• Arabic: خَطَر m (ḵaṭar)

  Egyptian Arabic: خطر m (ḵaṭar)

• Armenian: վտանգ (hy) (vtang)
• Assamese: বিপদ (bipod)
• Asturian: peligru m
• Azerbaijani: təhlükə (az)
• Basque: arrisku
• Belarusian: небяспе́ка f (njebjaspjéka)
• Bengali: বিপদ (bn) (bipod)
• Bulgarian: опа́сност (bg) f (opásnost)
• Burmese: ဘယာ (my) (bha.ya), ဘေး (my) (bhe:), အန္တရာယ် (my) (anta.ray)
• Catalan: perill (ca) m
• Chechen: кхерам (qeram)
• Cherokee: ᎦᏂᏰᎩ (ganiyegi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 危險 / 危险 (ngai⁴ him²)

  Mandarin: 危險 / 危险 (zh) (wēixiǎn)

• Chukchi: гыаргыргын (gyargyrgyn)
• Classical Nahuatl: ohuihcāyōtl
• Czech: nebezpečí (cs) n
• Danish: fare (da) c
• Dutch: gevaar (nl) n
• Esperanto: danĝero
• Estonian: oht (et), hädaoht
• Faroese: vandi m
• Finnish: vaara (fi), uhka (fi)
• French: danger (fr) m, péril (fr)
• Friulian: pericul m
• Galician: perigo (gl) m
• Georgian: საფრთხე (saprtxe)
• German: Gefahr (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐌴𐌹 f (bireikei), 𐍃𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌴𐌹 f (sleiþei)
• Greek: κίνδυνος (el) m (kíndynos)

  Ancient: κίνδυνος m (kíndunos)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Haitian Creole: danje
• Hebrew: סַכָּנָה (he) f (sakaná)
• Hindi: जोखिम (hi) m (jokhim), ख़तरा m (xatrā), विपदा (hi) f (vipdā), प्रमाद (hi) m (pramād), संकट (hi) m (saṅkaṭ), विपत्ति (hi) f (vipatti), खतरा (hi) m (khatrā)
• Hungarian: veszély (hu)
• Icelandic: hætta (is) f
• Ido: danjero (io)
• Igbo: itu egwu (ig)
• Indonesian: bahaya (id)
• Ingush: кхерам (qeram)
• Irish: contúirt f, dainséar m
• Italian: pericolo (it) m
• Japanese: 危険 (ja) (きけん, kiken)
• Javanese: bebaya (jv)
• Kannada: ಕುತ್ತ (kn) (kutta)
• Kazakh: қауіп (qauıp), қатер (qater), қауіптілік (qauıptılık)
• Khmer: គ្រោះថ្នាក់ (km) (krŭəh thnak)
• Kikuyu: ũgwati class 14
• Korean: 위험(危險) (ko) (wiheom)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: talûke (ku)

• Kyrgyz: коркунуч (ky) (korkunuc)
• Ladin: pericul m
• Ladino: perikolo m
• Lao: ອັນຕະຣາຽ (ʼan ta rāi), ອັນຕະລາຍ (ʼan ta lāi)
• Latin: periculum (la) n
• Latvian: briesmas m, bīstamība f
• Lithuanian: pavojus m
• Macedonian: опасност f (opasnost)
• Malay: bahaya (ms)
• Malayalam: ആപത്ത് (ml) (āpattŭ), അപായം (ml) (apāyaṁ)
• Maltese: periklu
• Maori: tatamate
• Middle English: peril, danger, dred
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аюул (mn) (ajuul), зэтгэр (zetger)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fare (no) m

• Occitan: perilh (oc) m
• Old English: frēcennes f
• Old Saxon: fāra f, fār m or f, gifār n
• Oromo: balaa
• Ottoman Turkish: قورقو (korku), تهلكه (tehlike)
• Pashto: خطر (ps) m (xatár)
• Persian: خطر (fa) (xatar)
• Plautdietsch: Jefoa f
• Polish: niebezpieczeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: perigo (pt) m
• Romanian: pericol (ro) n, primejdie (ro) f
• Romansch: privel m, prighel m, prievel m
• Russian: опа́сность (ru) f (opásnostʹ)
• Saho: siraye
• Sanskrit: त्यजस् (sa) n (tyajas)
• Sardinian: perículu, perígulu, pirígulu
• Scottish Gaelic: cunnart m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опа́сно̄ст f

  Roman: opásnōst (sh) f

• Sicilian: pirìculu (scn), perìculu (scn), prìculu (scn)
• Sinhalese: අන්ත්‍රාව (antrāwa)
• Slovak: nebezpečie n
• Slovene: nevarnost (sl) f
• Somali: khatar
• Spanish: peligro (es) m, discrimen m
• Swahili: hatari (sw)
• Swedish: fara (sv) c
• Tagalog: panganib (tl)
• Tajik: хатар (tg) (xatar), хавф (tg) (xavf)
• Tamil: அபாயம் (ta) (apāyam), ஆபத்து (ta) (āpattu)
• Tatar: куркыныч (qurkınıç)
• Telugu: ప్రమాదము (te) (pramādamu)
• Thai: อันตราย (th) (an-dtà-raai)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tocharian A: sanu
• Tocharian B: ñyātse
• Turkish: tehlike (tr)
• Turkmen: howp, hovp
• Tuvan: айыыл (ayııl)
• Ukrainian: небезпе́ка f (nebezpéka)
• Urdu: جوکھم m (jokhim), خطرہ m (xatra)
• Uyghur: خەتەر (xeter)
• Uzbek: xatar (uz), xavflilik (uz)
• Venetan: pericoło m, pericol, pericolo, perigoło
• Vietnamese: nguy hiểm (vi) (危險)
• Volapük: pölig
• Walloon: dandjî (wa) m
• Welsh: perygl (cy) m, peryglau m pl
• Xhosa: ingozi
• Yiddish: געפאַר f (gefar)
• Zulu: ingozi (zu)

instance or cause of likely harm

• Arabic: خَطَر m (ḵaṭar)
• Armenian: վտանգ (hy) (vtang), սպառնալիք (hy) (spaṙnalikʻ)
• Asturian: peligru m
• Belarusian: небяспе́ка f (njebjaspjéka), пагро́за f (pahróza)
• Bulgarian: запла́ха (bg) f (zapláha), опа́сност (bg) f (opásnost)
• Czech: nebezpečí (cs) n
• Danish: fare (da) c
• Dutch: gevaar (nl) n, bedreiging (nl) f
• Finnish: uhka (fi), vaara (fi)
• French: danger (fr) m
• Galician: perigo (gl) m
• German: Gefahr (de) f, Bedrohung (de) f
• Greek: κίνδυνος (el) m (kíndynos)
• Haitian Creole: danje
• Hebrew: סַכָּנָה (he) f (sakana)
• Hindi: परेशानी (hi) f (pareśānī)
• Ido: danjero (io)
• Indonesian: bahaya (id)
• Irish: contúirt f, dainséar m
• Italian: pericolo (it) m
• Javanese: bebaya (jv)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پەرێشان (perêşan)

• Maori: mōreareatanga
• Old English: frēcennes f
• Plautdietsch: Jefoa f
• Polish: zagrożenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: perigo (pt) m
• Romanian: pericol (ro) n
• Russian: опа́сность (ru) f (opásnostʹ), угро́за (ru) f (ugróza)
• Scottish Gaelic: cunnart m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опасност f

  Roman: opasnost (sh) f

• Spanish: peligro (es) m, discrimen m
• Swahili: hatari (sw)
• Swedish: fara (sv) c
• Turkish: tehlike (tr)
• Ukrainian: небезпе́ка f (nebezpéka), загро́за f (zahróza)

stop indication of a railway signal

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

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} לסכן (lesaken) (2)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} hætta (is)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: (3) ^{(please verify)} xeter (ku) f, (3) ^{(please verify)} talûke (ku) f, (3) ^{(please verify)} bive (ku) f, (3) ^{(please verify)} gef (ku) f, (3) ^{(please verify)} rîsk (ku) f

• Lithuanian: (3) ^{(please verify)} pavojus m
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} fare (no)

Verb

danger (third-person singular simple present dangers, present participle dangering, simple past and past participle dangered)

1. (obsolete) To claim liability.
2. (obsolete) To imperil; to endanger.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     The sides o'th' world may danger. Much is breeding

3. (obsolete) To run the risk.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:danger.

Related terms

• dangerous
• at danger
• SPAD
• dungeon
• domain
• dame
• endanger

References

• Oxford English Dictionary

Anagrams

• Gander, Garden, gander, garden, grande, graned, nadger, ranged

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French dangier, alteration of Old French dongier (due to association with Latin damnum (“damage”)), from Vulgar Latin *domniārium (“authority, power”), from Latin dominus (“lord, master”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɑ̃.ʒe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

danger m (plural dangers)

1. danger
2. jeopardy (danger of loss, harm, or failure)

Derived terms

• danger public
• dangereux
• en danger
• hors de danger
• non-assistance à personne en danger

Descendants

• → Esperanto: danĝero

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• de rang, grande