heathenism
heathenism Lexical Profile
heathenism Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Religious belief systems, practices, or ways of life outside the major monotheistic (especially Abrahamic) religions; paganism or polytheism.
"Early medieval chronicles frequently described the conversion of northern European tribes from heathenism to Christianity."
Unenlightened, uncivilized, or irreligious behavior and customs.
"The strict reformer denounced the town's rowdy festivals as a return to moral heathenism."
Word Nuance & Usage
Historically used by adherents of Abrahamic faiths as a pejorative term for polytheistic or indigenous religions; in modern usage, capitalized 'Heathenism' (or 'Heathenry') specifically refers to contemporary Germanic neopaganism.
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the 16th century from 'heathen' (from Old English 'hǣðen', literally 'dweller on the heath', coined as a Germanic calque of Latin 'paganus', meaning 'country dweller') combined with the suffix '-ism'.