John.
A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages.
Meaning & usage
A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages.
A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages. Used generically for a man whose actual name may not be known.
a John Doe murder case; the dreaded Dear John letter; if we were to ask John Q. Public his opinion
A male given name originating from the Bible [in turn from Hebrew]; very popular since the Middle Ages. Used frequently to form an idea personified, as in John Bull, John Barleycorn (see derivations below).
Persons of the Christian Bible: John the Baptist; and names possibly referring to one, two or three persons, frequently called "Saint": John the Apostle, John the Evangelist and John of Patmos (also called John the Divine or John the Theologian).
The Gospel of St John, a book of the New Testament of the Bible. Traditionally the fourth of the four gospels.
One of the books in the New Testament of the Bible, the epistles of John (1 John, 2 John and 3 John).
A surname originating as a patronymic.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English John, Johan, Johannes, from Anglo-Norman Jehan, Johan, and also Old English Iohannes, both from Late Latin Iōhannēs, variant of Latin Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), perhaps contracted from a former יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān, “God is gracious”). Doublet of Jack, Jon, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Sean, Shane, Shaun, Ian, Ivan, Evan, Juan, Giovanni, and Yahya.
A new recruit at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Alternative letter-case form of john (“a toilet, lavatory, outhouse, chamber pot”).
An excuse, chiefly made by a losing player for their poor performance.
Remember, no Johns.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English John, Johan, Johannes, from Anglo-Norman Jehan, Johan, and also Old English Iohannes, both from Late Latin Iōhannēs, variant of Latin Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), perhaps contracted from a former יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān, “God is gracious”). Doublet of Jack, Jon, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Sean, Shane, Shaun, Ian, Ivan, Evan, Juan, Giovanni, and Yahya.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.