stubborn

English

Etymology

From Middle English stiborne, stibourne, stoburn, stoburne, styburne, stiborn. Origin uncertain.

One theory is that the origin may come from *stybor, *stibor, from Old English stybb (“a stump, stub”) + adj. formative -or as in Old English bitor, English bitter.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstʌbɚn/
- Audio (US): (file)
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstʌbən/
(Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈstʊbən/
- Audio (UK): (file)
Rhymes: -ʌbə(ɹ)n
Hyphenation: stub‧born

Adjective

stubborn (comparative stubborner, superlative stubbornest)

Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
He is pretty stubborn about his political beliefs, so why bother arguing?

Blood can make a very stubborn stain on fabrics if not washed properly.
Of materials: physically stiff and inflexible; not easily melted or worked.

Synonyms

willful, headstrong, wayward, obstinate, obdurate, contrary, disobedient, insubordinate, undisciplined, adamant, unyielding, rebellious
See also Thesaurus:obstinate, perseverant, persistent, enduring

Derived terms

Translations

refusing to move or change one's opinion

Arabic: عَنِيد (ʕanīd)
Armenian: համառ (hy) (hamaṙ)
Assamese: আঁকোৰগোঁজ (ãkürgü̃z), গোঁৱাৰ (gü̃ar)
Asturian: neciu (ast)
Azerbaijani: inad (az), inadkar (az), tərs (az)
Basque: kaskagogor
Belarusian: упа́рты (upárty)
Breton: pennek (br)
Bulgarian: инат (bg) (inat)
Catalan: tossut (ca), cabut (ca), caparrut, enterc (ca)
Chamicuro: kashtakulu
Chinese:
Cantonese: 固執／固执 (gu³ zap¹), 硬頸／硬颈 (ngaang⁶ geng²), 牛皮 (ngau⁴ pei⁴)

Mandarin: 頑固／顽固 (zh) (wángù), 固執／固执 (zh) (gùzhí), 執拗／执拗 (zh) (zhíniù)
Crimean Tatar: eriş
Czech: tvrdohlavý (cs), neústupný (cs)
Danish: stædig (da)
Dutch: hardnekkig (nl), koppig (nl), halsstarrig (nl), eigenwijs (nl)
Esperanto: obstina (eo)
Estonian: kangekaelne
Faroese: treiskur, stívrendur
Finnish: itsepäinen (fi)
French: têtu (fr), entêté (fr), borné (fr)
Galician: teimudo (gl), testán (gl), cornán (gl), cazurro (gl), túzaro (gl)
Georgian: ჯიუტი (ǯiuṭi), შეუპოვარი (šeuṗovari), უდრეკი (udreḳi), კერპი (ka) (ḳerṗi)
German: stur (de), dickköpfig (de)
Greek: πεισματάρης (el) (peismatáris)
Ancient: αὐθάδης (authádēs), σκληροτράχηλος (sklērotrákhēlos)
Hawaiian: nuha
Hebrew: עַקְשָׁן (he) ('aqshán), עִקֵּשׁ (he) ('iqésh), קְשֵׁה עֹרֶף (he) (qshe 'óref)
Hindi: हठी (hi) (haṭhī), ज़िद्दी (ziddī), अक्खड़ (hi) (akkhaṛ)
Hungarian: makacs (hu), konok (hu)
Ingrian: pero (of horses)
Irish: stalcach, ceanndána, stalcánta, stuacach
Italian: ostinato (it), testardo (it)
Japanese: 頑固な (ja) (がんこな, ganko na)
Kazakh: бірбеткей (bırbetkei)
Korean: 고집이 세다 (gojibi seda), 고지식하다 (ko) (gojisikhada)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کەلە ڕەق (kele req)
Latin: obstinātus
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lingala: mutu makasi
Lithuanian: užsispyręs
Macedonian: твр́доглав (tvŕdoglav), у́порен (úporen), сво́еглав (svóeglav)
Maori: kōioio, mōtohe, whakangutungutu, kakī mārō, taringa kōhatu, upoko mārō, whakatohe, kōioio, taringa mārō
Meru: ndemi
Norman: r'calcitrant, vithouard, hieux
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sta (no), hardnakket, vrangvillig

Nynorsk: sta, hardnakka, vrangviljug
Old English: ānwille
Pashto: خری (ps) (xəray), ځيلی (źilay)
Persian: کله شق (fa) (kale šaq), سمج (fa) (semej), سرتق (fa) (serteq)
Plautdietsch: baulstierich, hoatnakich
Polish: uparty (pl)
Portuguese: teimoso (pt), cabeça-dura, cabeçudo (pt), casmurro (pt), turrão (pt)
Quechua: thalu
Romanian: încăpățânat (ro), căpățânos (ro), îndărătnic (ro), căpos (ro) (familiar)
Russian: упо́рный (ru) (upórnyj), упря́мый (ru) (uprjámyj), упёртый (ru) (upjórtyj), насто́йчивый (ru) (nastójčivyj), неусту́пчивый (ru) (neustúpčivyj), жестоковыйный (ru) (žestokovyjnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: rag-mhuinealach, rag
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тврдоглав

Roman: tvrdoglav (sh)
Slovak: tvrdohlavý, neoblomný, zarytý, zaťatý, tvrdošijný, úporný
Slovene: trmast (sl), trdoglav
Spanish: testarudo (es), obstinado (es), cabezota (familiar), terco (es), cabezadura (es), porfiado (es), tozudo (es), obcecado (es)
Swedish: envis (sv), hårdnackad (sv)
Tagalog: malig-in, matigas ang ulo, maliwaliwa
Telugu: మొండి (te) (moṇḍi)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: inatçı (tr)
Ukrainian: впе́ртий (vpértyj)
Urdu: ہٹھی (haṭhī)
Vietnamese: bướng bỉnh (vi), ngoan cố (vi), lì lợm (vi), lì (vi), bảo thủ (vi)
Walloon: tiestou (wa), buké (wa), macté (wa)
Welsh: styfnig

Noun

stubborn (uncountable)

(informal) Stubbornness.
- 2003, Dana Stabenow, A Grave Denied, →ISBN, page 86:
  But I have to say that one thing you inherited from your mother is a whole lot of stubborn.
- 2014, Victoria Hamilton, Muffin But Murder, →ISBN:
  That takes a lot of stubborn for a seventy-something man.
- 2016, Ken Robert Baugh, Just Passing Time, →ISBN:
  Stubborn is not eating pizza out of a square pan because you know it won't taste as good as a round one. Stubborn is spending twelve thousand dollars to fix a five-hundred-dollar truck just because it's “your baby.”
Short for stubborn disease (“a disease of citrus trees”).
- 1967, Walter Reuther, The Citrus Industry, Volume IV, →ISBN, page 129:
  With evidence that the causal agent of stubborn is spread by insects, control or prevention of this disease will prove more difficult than formerly thought to be.
- 2012, Vincenzo Vacante, Uri Gerson, Integrated Control of Citrus Pests in the Mediterranean Region, →ISBN:
  Sectorial infection of stubborn could be stable for long periods, but may be manifested once the trees are severely pruned, this causing the system spread of S. citri to other non-infected parts.