different between saint vs heathen

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /se?nt/
  • Rhymes: -e?nt
• (UK, as an unstressed, capitalised title) IPA^(key): /s?n(t)/, /s?n(t)/

Etymology 1

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sanctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancire (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English h?lga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).

Noun

saint (plural saints)

1. A person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

   Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed a saint.
2. (figuratively, by extension) A person with positive qualities; one who does good.

   Dorothy Day was a living saint.

   Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!

3. One of the blessed in heaven.
4. (archaic) A holy object.

Synonyms

• (holy person): hallow (obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hallow
• holos
• holy

Etymology 2

From Middle English saynten, seinten, sonten, partly from Anglo-Norman saintir and partly from the noun Middle English seint, seynt (see above).

Verb

saint (third-person singular simple present saints, present participle sainting, simple past and past participle sainted)

1. (transitive) To canonize, to formally recognize someone as a saint.

   Many wish to see Pope John Paul II sainted immediately.

Translations

Further reading

• saint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• saint in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Astin, Insta, Santi, Sinta, Tanis, Tians, antis, insta-, sat in, satin, stain, stian, tians, tisan

French

Etymology

From Latin sanctus (“holy”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophones: sain, sains, saints, sein, seing, seings, seins, ceins, ceint, ceints

Noun

saint m (plural saints, feminine sainte)

1. saint

Adjective

saint (feminine singular sainte, masculine plural saints, feminine plural saintes)

1. saintly (all meanings)

Derived terms

Further reading

• “saint” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• tians

Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

saint f (genitive singular sainte)

1. greed, avarice, covetousness
2. great eagerness, desire

Declension

Synonyms

• cíocras, gabhálacht (“avarice”)

Mutation

Norman

Etymology

From Old French saint, from Latin sanctus (“holy”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

saint m

1. (Jersey) holy

Noun

saint m (plural saints)

1. (Jersey, religion) saint

Old French

Alternative forms

• sanct (rare)
• saent (rare)
• seint (common, chiefly Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Latin sanctus

Noun

saint m (oblique plural sainz or saintz, nominative singular sainz or saintz, nominative plural saint)

1. saint

Declension

Adjective

saint m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sainte)

1. holy
2. pious; devout

Descendants

• ? English: saint
• French: saint
• Norman: saint (Jersey)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sai?nt/

Noun

saint m pl (not mutable)

1. plural of sant

English

Etymology

From Middle English hethen, from Old English h?þen, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþin, from Proto-Germanic *haiþinaz (“heathen, pagan”, adj), equivalent to heath (“heathland”) +? -en. Cognate with West Frisian heiden, Dutch heiden, Middle High German heiden, Swedish heden, Icelandic heiðinn. See also Proto-Germanic *haiduz, Old Norse heiðr (honour, bright, moor), Icelandic heiður (honour).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hi?ð?n/
• Rhymes: -i?ð?n

Adjective

heathen (not comparable)

1. Not adhering to Christian religion (though usually excluding the Jews); pagan.
2. (by extension) Uncultured; uncivilized; savage, philistine.
3. Alternative letter-case form of Heathen (pertaining or adhering to the Germanic neo-pagan faith Heathenry).

Translations

Noun

heathen (plural heathens or heathen)

1. A person who does not follow a Christian religion; a pagan.
   • V. Knox

     If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens.

   • 1930, H. E. Bolton, Anza's California expeditions (volume 1, page 403)

     On hearing his cries two heathen who were hunting on the lagoon ran up, and they were bold enough to try to avenge the injury, making ready to shoot arrows at the soldiers, who fired two gunshots just to frighten them […]

2. (by extension) An uncultured or uncivilized person, philistine.
3. Alternative letter-case form of Heathen (an adherent of the Germanic neo-pagan faith of Heathenry).

Coordinate terms

• (religionists) religionist; Baha'i,? Buddhist,? Christian,? deist,? Druid,? Eckist,? heathen,? Hindu,? Jain,? Jedi,? Jew,? Mormon,? Mormonist,? Muslim,? Odinist,? pagan,? Pastafarian,? Rastafarian,? Raëlian,? Shintoist,? Sikh,? Taoist,? Unitarian Universalist,? Yazidi,? Wiccan,? Zoroastrian ^{(Category: en:Religion) [edit]}

Derived terms

Further reading

• heathen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations