atheism

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French athéisme,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French in the 16th century,^[5][4] formed from athée (“atheist”) and -isme,^[3][6] from Ancient Greek ἄθεος (átheos, “without a god, denying the gods; godless”),^[4][5][6] itself formed from ἀ- (a-, “without”) and θεός (theós, “a god”).^[4][6][7] Etymonline traces the Greek word for god to Proto-Indo-European *dhēs-, a root forming words for religious concepts.^[4][6] An earlier English form was atheonism (1530s), which Etymonline thinks may come from Italian atheo (“atheist”);^[4] the OED compares Italian atheismo.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God, and also godlessness in practice: 1587, in Sidney and Golding's translation of de Mornay,^[5][2] and the 1580s in Etymonline.^[4] Merriam-Webster gives an earlier first known use, 1546.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word for the person, atheist, is recorded slightly earlier, from 1571,^[2] and atheistic from 1634.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined atheism as "the disbelief of a God", noting that in poetry it has only two syllables.^[8] The Historical Thesaurus places it under theism in the vocabulary of faith,^[9] and the Shorter Oxford contrasts it with theism and, formerly, with deism.^[10] In the late 19th century the Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, distinguished the denial that the first cause is a personal God from practical indifference to God, and in the first sense set atheism apart from pantheism and agnosticism.^[4] Merriam-Webster now separates a lack of belief, or a strong disbelief, in any god from the philosophical position that denies any god exists.^[3]

Timeline

• 1530s – the earlier form atheonism.^[4]
• 1546 – first known use according to Merriam-Webster.^[3]
• 1571 – atheist.^[2]
• 1587 – atheism, in the OED and Barnhart.^[5][2]
• 1634 – atheistic.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: "the disbelief of a God".^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lack of belief, or a firm disbelief, in the existence of God or of any gods.^{[3][11][5][10]}
2. The philosophical or religious position that no god exists, distinguished from agnosticism.^[3]
3. Godlessness, especially in conduct.^[3][5][10]

Word family

• panatheism
• antiatheism

Related words

• atheist
• atheistic
• theism
• theist
• pantheism
• atheonism

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster contrasts atheism with agnosticism,^[3] and the Century Dictionary distinguished it from pantheism, which denies that God is a person, as well as agnosticism, which denies that God can be known.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins