heretic

See also: herètic

English

Alternative forms

• hæretic, heretike (archaic)
• hæretick, heretick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English heretyk, heretike, from Old French eretique, from Medieval Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin haereticus, from Ancient Greek αἱρετικός (hairetikós, “able to choose, factious”), itself from Ancient Greek αἱρέω (hairéō, “I choose”).

Pronunciation

• (noun): (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹɪtɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

heretic (plural heretics)

1. Someone whose beliefs are contrary to the fundamental tenets of a religion they claim to belong to.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 17–19:

     He semeth a sysmatyke
     Or els an heretike,
     For fayth in hym is faynte.

   • 1974, Thomas S. Szasz, chapter 11, in The Myth of Mental Illness, →ISBN, page 197:

     In the framework of traditional medical ethics, the patient deserves humane attention only insofar as he is potentially healthy and is willing to be healthy—just as in the framework of traditional Christian ethics, the heretic deserved humane attention only insofar as he was potentially a true believer and was willing to become one.

2. (by extension) Someone who does not conform to generally accepted beliefs or practices.

Synonyms

• dissident, nonconformist, sectarian, separatist, withersake

Hyponyms

• apostate

Derived terms

• arch-heretical

Translations

someone who believes contrary to fundamentals

Afrikaans: ketter, ketters pl Albanian: heretik (sq) m, heretike f Arabic: مُلْحِد m (mulḥid), مُلْحِدَة f (mulḥida) Armenian: հերետիկոս (hy) (heretikos) Aromanian: eretico m Azerbaijani: bidətçi Belarusian: ерэты́к m (jeretýk), ерэты́чка f (jeretýčka) Bulgarian: ерети́к (bg) m (eretík), ерети́чка f (eretíčka) Catalan: heretge (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 異端 / 异端 (zh) (yìduān) Czech: kacíř (cs) m, kacířka f Danish: kætter c Dutch: ketter (nl) m Esperanto: herezulo, herezulino (female) Estonian: ketser Faroese: trúarvillingur m, trúvillingur m Finnish: harhaoppinen, kerettiläinen (fi), toisinajattelija (fi) French: hérétique (fr) m or f Georgian: მწვალებელი (mc̣valebeli), ერეტიკოსი (ereṭiḳosi) German: Ketzer (de) m, Ketzerin (de) f, Häretiker (de) m, Häretikerin (de) f, Abweichler (de) m, Abweichlerin (de) f Greek: αιρετικός (el) m (airetikós), αιρετική (el) f (airetikí) Ancient: αἱρετικός m (hairetikós) Hebrew: כּוֹפֵר (he) m (kofér), כּוֹפֶרֶת m (koféret), אֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס (he) m (epikóros), אֶפִּיקוֹרֶס (he) m (epikóres), מִין (he) m (mín) Hindi: विधर्मी (hi) m (vidharmī) Hungarian: eretnek (hu) Indonesian: bida'ah Irish: eiriceach m Italian: eretico (it) m, eretica (it) f Japanese: 異端者 (ja) (いたんしゃ, itansha) Kazakh: бидғатшы (bidğatşy) Korean: 이단자(異端者) (idanja), 이교도(異敎徒) (igyodo) Kyrgyz: бидъатчы (bidatcı), еретик (ky) (yeretik) Latin: haereseus m (Mediaeval), haeresiacus m (Mediaeval), haereticus m (Ecclesiastical) Latvian: ķeceris m Lithuanian: eretikas m Macedonian: криво́верец m (krivóverec), криво́верник m (krivóvernik), ере́тик m (erétik) Maori: heretiki Norwegian: Bokmål: kjetter (no) m, heretiker m, vranglærer m Nynorsk: kjettar m, heretikar m, ranglærar m Occitan: eretic (oc) m, erètge (oc) m Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: еретикъ m (eretikŭ) Old Czech: cafúr m Persian: زندیک (fa) (zandik), زندیق (fa) (zendiq) Polish: heretyk (pl) m, heretyczka (pl) f, kacerz (pl) m (archaic), kacerka f Portuguese: herege (pt) m or f Romanian: eretic (ro) m Russian: ерети́к (ru) m (jeretík), ерети́чка (ru) f (jeretíčka) Scottish Gaelic: saobh-chreidmheach m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кривоверан m, кривоверна f, јеретик m Roman: krivoveran (sh) m, krivoverna f, jeretik (sh) m Slovak: kacír m, kacírka f, heretik m, heretička f Slovene: krivoverec (sl) m, krivoverka f, heretik (sl) m, heretičarka f Spanish: hereje (es) m or f Swedish: kättare (sv) c, heretiker (sv) c Tagalog: erehe Tajik: бидъаткор (bidʾatkor) Tocharian B: tīrthe ? Turkish: zındık (tr), kâfir (tr) Ukrainian: єрети́к m (jeretýk), єрети́чка f (jeretýčka) Uzbek: bidʻatchi Vietnamese: dị giáo Volapük: häretan (vo), hihäretan (male), jihäretan (female) Yiddish: אַפּיקורס m (apikoyres), מין m (min)

Adjective

heretic (comparative more heretic, superlative most heretic)

1. (archaic) Heretical; of or pertaining to heresy or heretics.

   Antonym: orthodox

Translations

heretical — see heretical

Related terms

• heresy
• heretical

Anagrams

• chierte, erethic, etheric, heteric, techier

Scots

Etymology

See heresy.

Noun

heretic (plural heretics)

1. heretic
2. (literary style) A poet who claims to have no religion, or to disdain one.

   He's as puir as the heretic baird. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)