sinner

Etymology

It is formed from English sin + -er, from the verb.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb sin is from Old English syngian (“to commit sin, transgress”), from the source of the noun synn (“violation of divine law”).^[3] Old English itself had synngiend for a sinner.^[3] The OED compares Old Frisian sondere, Middle Dutch sondaer (now zondaar), Middle Low German sunder, Old High German suntari, German Sünder, Old Norse syndari, Swedish syndare and Danish synder.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who sins, a transgressor against the divine law: about 1325, in the Prose Psalter.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the mid 14th century, and to the late 13th century in surnames,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1275–1325.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a sinner was one who offends God, and Etymonline notes that it could also mean a non-Christian.^[3] Wycliffe (1380s) used a feminine sinneresse for the Latin mulier peccatrix of Luke 7, a form found as a surname as early as 1255,^[3] and in the 15th century sinner itself was used of an unchaste woman.^[2] Chaucer has the word six times.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as one at enmity with God, and secondly as an offender or criminal.^[8] From 1809 it was also used lightly, of a rogue or of someone who breaks a rule or custom,^[2][4][9] and in slang, often as old sinner or young sinner, as an affectionate term for a man.^[9] The phrase publicans and sinners, from the Gospels, was used jokingly of tavern keepers from 1755.^[9] Pope made a verb of it in 1735, in "whether the charmer sinner it, or saint it".^[2][3][8]

Timeline

• 1255 – sinneresse as a surname.^[3]
• c. 1325 – one who sins, in the Prose Psalter.^[2]
• 1380s – sinneresse, a female sinner, in Wycliffe.^[3]
• 1682 – the phrase as I am a sinner.^[2]
• 1735 – verb, sinner it, in Pope.^[2]
• 1809 – a rogue or reprobate, in trivial use.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who sins; one who breaks a religious or moral law: The preacher called on every sinner to repent.^[5][10][2]
2. Humorously, a scamp or reprobate; someone who breaks a rule or custom: You lazy old sinner!^{[10][5][2][4]}
3. (dialect) A fellow or person.^[5]

Verb

1. sinner it: to act as a sinner.^[2][4]

Related words

• sin
• sinful

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
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. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt