(of people and their way of life 人和生活方式 quiet and polite, often in an exaggerated way; from, or pretending to be from, a high social class 显得彬彬有礼的；假斯文的；上流社会的；装体面的；装出绅士派头的 (of places 地方 quiet and old-fashioned and perhaps slightly boring 幽静的；古朴单调的
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘fashionable, stylish’): from French gentil ‘well-born’. From the 17th cent. to the 19th cent. the word was used in such senses as ‘of good social position’, ‘having the manners of a well-born person’, ‘well bred’. The ironic or derogatory implication dates from the 19th cent.