heretic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English heretik, also eretik,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French eretique,^[5][1] heretique,^[3][6] modern French hérétique, recorded from the 14th century.^[4][5] The French word is from Ecclesiastical Latin haereticus (“of a heresy; as a noun, a heretic”),^[4][5][7] from Ancient Greek αἱρετικός (hairetikós, “able to choose”),^[4][5][8] from αἱρετός (hairetós, “that may be chosen”), the verbal adjective of αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; in the middle voice, to choose”).^[8][2][1] In Christian writers, after αἵρεσις (haíresis, “heresy”), the Greek adjective came to mean heretical and was used as a noun for a heretic;^[4][7] Etymonline notes the sense "heretical" in the New Testament.^[5] Old French also had the popular forms herege and herite.^[4] According to the OED, the stress on the first syllable is due to the French origin, unlike words taken directly from Greek or Latin such as ascetic and theoretic.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person whose religious opinions differ from the orthodox doctrine of the Church: about 1330, in Mannyng's Chronicle, "Þe kyng said & did crie, þe pape was heretike".^[4] Barnhart has it in 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,^[6] and Etymonline in the mid-14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Greek root meant choosing: the noun αἵρεσις (haíresis) went from a choice to a school of thought and a sect, and in Christian use to a group holding false doctrine.^[9][10] The English word kept the church sense, and was also applied to other religions.^[4] From 1600, in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing ("Thou wast euer an obstinate heretique in the despight of Beauty"), it was extended to anyone who rejects the received opinion on any subject.^[4] As an adjective meaning heretical it has been rare since its first use, in the Wycliffite Bible of about 1384.^[4][2] In the Roman Catholic Church a heretic is, strictly, a baptized member who knowingly and obstinately denies a revealed truth.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – a dissenter from the doctrine of the Church.^[4]
• c. 1384 – adjective, heretical (rare).^[4]
• 1600 – a dissenter from accepted opinion on any subject.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who holds religious beliefs contrary to the established doctrine of a church: The council condemned him as a heretic.^[2][11][4]
2. (Roman Catholic Church) A baptized member who deliberately and obstinately rejects a revealed truth of the faith.^[2][11]
3. A person who rejects an accepted belief or theory in any field; a dissenter or nonconformist: She was a heretic among economists of her day.^[2][11][4]

Adjective

1. (rare) Heretical.^[2][4]

Related words

• heresy
• heretical
• diaeresis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins