Etymologically
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religious

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈlɪdʒ.əs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman religius, Old French religious (modern French religieux),[2][3] and directly from Latin religiōsus (“pious, devout, fearing the gods; scrupulous”),[2][3] from religiō (“religious observance, reverence, obligation”),[2][4] the source of religion.[2][3] The noun is from the adjective.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Devout, pious, used of Christians, Jews and pagans, and also “belonging to a religious order”: about 1200 in Etymonline[2] and before 1225 in the OED.[5] The noun, people bound by vow to a religious order, is also from about 1200.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of persons bound by monastic vows it is in the OED from before 1300, and of places and things belonging to a monastic order from about 1330.[5] The general sense “concerning religion” is from the 1530s.[2][5] The transferred sense “scrupulous, exact”, as in religiously careful, is recorded from the 1590s;[2] Etymonline notes that it revives a sense the Latin word already had.[2] As a noun for devout people in general it is from the late 14th century.[2] Most religious was used as an epithet of kings from 1662.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – devout; belonging to a religious order.[2]
  • before 1300 – bound by monastic vows.[5]
  • late 14th century – noun, the devout.[2]
  • 1530s – concerning religion.[2][5]
  • 1590s – scrupulous, exact.[2]
  • 1662 – most religious, of royalty.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Believing in and revering God or a deity; devout.
  2. Of, concerned with or teaching religion.
  3. Very careful or conscientious: with religious attention to detail.

Noun

  1. A member of a monastic order, such as a monk or nun.

Word family

  • religiously
  • religiousness
  • antireligious
  • areligious
  • interreligious
  • irreligious
  • multireligious
  • nonreligious
  • antireligion
  • antireligiosity
  • coreligionist
  • irreligion
  • nonreligion
  • religion
  • religionism
  • religionist
  • religiosity
  • subreligion

Usage notes

Religious implies following a religion in both belief and practice;[6] devout stresses sincere feeling, pious outward observance, and sanctimonious a show of piety.[6]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin