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cult

Etymology and origin of the English word cult

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1617
Ultimate origin
Latin (cultus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kʌlt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed through culte and directly from Latin cultus (“care, cultivation; worship, reverence”),[2][3][4] originally tended, cultivated, the past participle of colere (“to till, cultivate, inhabit, worship”) (see colony).[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Worship, reverential homage: 1617, now obsolete.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

A particular system of religious worship is from 1679, in William Penn.[2][6] The word was rare after the 17th century but was revived in the mid-19th, sometimes in the French form culte, for ancient or primitive systems of worship and their rites.[3] Devotion to a particular person or thing is from 1711 in the OED and 1829 in Etymonline,[6][3] and Fitzedward Hall wrote in 1873 that the word could ill be spared now that religion had lost its original meaning.[3] Hugh Rawson's Wicked Words (1993) defined a cult wryly as an organized group, religious or not, with whom you disagree.[3] A religious group regarded as extremist or false, under an authoritarian leader, is the first sense in the AHD.[7] Attributive use by writers on ritual and archaeology is from 1901.[6]

Timeline

  • 1617 – worship.[2]
  • 1679 – a system of worship.[2]
  • 1711 – devotion to a person.[6]
  • mid-19th century – revived for ancient religions.[3]
  • 1901 – attributive use.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A religious group regarded as extreme or false, often under a powerful charismatic leader.
  2. A system of religious worship and its rites.
  3. Great devotion to a person, idea or thing, or the people who share it.

Word family

  • cultic
  • cultism
  • cultist
  • cultish
  • cultishly
  • cultishness
  • cultlike
  • anticult

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Cite this entry

“Cult.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/cult. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·