patriot

Pronunciation

• UK: /ˈpeɪ.tɹi.ət/, /ˈpæt.ɹi.ət/^[1]
• US: /ˈpeɪ.tɹi.ət/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French patriote (“fellow countryman”),^[2][3][4] recorded in French in that sense from about 1460 and as "a person who loves his or her country" from 1561,^[2] and partly taken directly from Late Latin patriōta (“fellow countryman”),^[5][6] a word of the 6th century.^[2][6] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πατριώτης (patriṓtēs, “fellow countryman; member of a clan”),^[2][6][7] formed with the suffix -ώτης (-ṓtēs),^[2][5] partly on πάτριος (pátrios, “of one's fathers”) and partly on πατριά (patriá, “clan”);^[2] Etymonline and Hoad also connect it with πατρίς (patrís, “fatherland”).^[6][8][9] All of these come from πατήρ (patḗr, “father”),^[2][6][8] which is related to father.^[6][3] In Greek the word was used of foreigners who shared a fatherland, as opposed to Greeks, who were fellow citizens of a city-state.^[2][6] Compare Italian patriota, Spanish patriota, Dutch patriot and German Patriot, all of the 16th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who loves his or her country and is ready to defend its freedoms and rights: 1577, in a letter written by a Dr Wilson.^[2][3] The older French sense "fellow countryman" is recorded in English from 1596, in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent,^[2][10][5] and Barnhart dates the sense "loyal supporter of one's country" to 1605, in Ben Jonson's Volpone.^[5]

Semantic evolution

According to the OED, the use of the word in the Netherlands in the 1570s, for the followers of William of Orange in the war against Spain, seems to have been important in the shift from "fellow countryman" to "lover of one's country".^[2] At first it was usually qualified by an adjective, as in good patriot, like French bon patriote.^[8][9][2] The sense "fellow countryman" was rare and died out in the early 17th century.^[2][11] A derogatory or ironic use, of someone who only claims to serve the country unselfishly, is recorded from 1644,^[2] and in mid-18th-century England the word became a term of ridicule;^[6] Johnson, who had defined a patriot as "one whose ruling passion is the love of his country", added in his fourth edition that it was sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government.^[6][12] Weekley quotes Johnson's remark on patriotism as "the last refuge of a scoundrel".^[9] In American English the word kept a mostly positive sense, and the insincere kind came to be called a patrioteer (1928).^[6][11] From 1789, originally in the United States, a patriot was also someone fighting enemy forces who occupy his or her country,^[2] a sense revived for the resistance movements of the Second World War.^[6][11] The wider sense of a devotee of a place or cause dates from 1631, perhaps influenced by patron.^[2] Since 1981 American usage has also applied the word, often with a capital, to opponents of federal intervention in private life, especially over guns and taxes,^[2] and since 1976 Patriot has been the name of an American surface-to-air missile system.^[2][13] Used as an adjective, meaning patriotic, it is recorded from 1649.^[2]

Timeline

• 1577 – a person who loves and defends his or her country.^[2][3]
• 1596 – a fellow countryman (obsolete by 1629).^[2][5]
• 1631 – a devotee or champion of a place or cause.^[2]
• 1644 – derogatory or ironic, a self-styled patriot.^[2]
• 1649 – adjective, patriotic.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: one whose ruling passion is the love of his country.^[12]
• 1789 – a fighter against an occupying enemy, originally in the United States.^[2]
• 1976 – the Patriot missile system.^[2]
• 1981 – in the United States, an opponent of federal intervention.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who loves his or her country and strongly supports and defends it: The old soldier was honoured as a patriot.
2. (derogatory or ironic) Someone who claims to serve the country unselfishly but whose motives are doubted.
3. A member of a resistance movement fighting forces that occupy his or her country.
4. (US, often capitalized) An opponent of federal intervention in private life, especially over guns and taxes.
5. A keen supporter of a cause, place or person.
6. Patriot: an American radar-guided surface-to-air missile system.

Adjective

1. Patriotic: patriot songs.

Word family

• antipatriot
• superpatriot
• patriotic
• patriotism

Related words

• compatriot
• patrioteer
• father
• paternal
• patriarch
• patron
• patrician
• expatriate
• repatriate

Usage notes

In the United States, Patriots' Day marks the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 and is a legal holiday in Maine and Massachusetts.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins