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heathen

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hea⋅then

  [hee-thuhn] noun, plural -thens, -then, adjective
Use heathen in a Sentence
–noun
1. an unconverted individual of a people that do not acknowledge the God of the Bible; a person who is neither a Jew, Christian, nor Muslim; pagan.
2. an irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized person.
–adjective
3. of or pertaining to heathens; pagan.
4. irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME hethen, OE hǣthen, akin to G Heide, heidnisch (adj.), ON heithingi (n.), heithinn (adj.), Goth haithno (n.); perh. akin to heath

Related forms:
hea⋅then⋅dom, noun
hea⋅then⋅hood, noun
hea⋅then⋅ness, noun
hea⋅then⋅ship, noun

Synonyms:
3. heathenish, barbarous. Heathen, pagan are both applied to peoples who are not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Heathen is often distinctively applied to unenlightened or barbaric idolaters, esp. to primitive or ancient tribes: heathen rites, idols. Pagan, though applied to any of the peoples not worshiping according to the three religions mentioned above, is most frequently used in speaking of the ancient Greeks and Romans: a pagan poem; a pagan civilization. 4. philistine; savage.

Antonyms:
4. sophisticated, urbane, cultured.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hea·then   (hē'thən)   
n.   pl. hea·thens or heathen

  1. Offensive

    1. One who adheres to the religion of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.

    2. Such persons considered as a group; the unconverted.

    3. One who is regarded as irreligious, uncivilized, or unenlightened.

    4. Such persons considered as a group.

  2. Heathen An adherent of a Neopagan religion that seeks to revive the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Germanic peoples.

  3. Informal

    1. One who is regarded as irreligious, uncivilized, or unenlightened.

    2. Such persons considered as a group.


[Middle English hethen, from Old English hǣthen; see kaito- in Indo-European roots.]
hea'then adj., hea'then·dom, hea'then·ism, hea'then·ry n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

heathen 
O.E. hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," merged with O.N. heiðinn. Historically assumed to be from Goth. haiþno "gentile, heathen woman," used by Ulfilas in the first translation of the Bible into a Gmc. language (cf. Mark 7:26, for "Greek"); if so it could be a derivative of Goth. haiþi "dwelling on the heath," but this sense is not recorded. It may have been chosen on model of L. paganus (see pagan), or for resemblance to Gk. ethne (see gentile), or may in fact be a borrowing of that word, perhaps via Armenian hethanos. Like other words for exclusively Christian ideas (e.g. church) it would have come first into Gothic, then spread to other Gmc. languages.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Heathen

(Heb. plural goyum). At first the word _goyim_ denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other _goyim_. They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23; 26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites, Hittites, etc., were the _goyim_, the heathen, with whom the Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1 Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps. 9:5, 15, 17). The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, _ethne_, has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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