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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

heathen.

Not adhering to an Abrahamic religion; pagan.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈhiːðən/

  1. Not adhering to an Abrahamic religion; pagan.

  2. Uncultured; uncivilized; savage; barbarian.

    broadly

  3. Alternative letter-case form of Heathen (pertaining or adhering to the Germanic neo-pagan faith Heathenry).

    alt-of
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hethen, from Old English hǣþen, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþin, from Proto-Germanic *haiþīnaz (“heathen, pagan”, adjective), equivalent to heath (“heathland”) + -en. Cognate with West Frisian heiden, Dutch heiden, Middle High German heiden, German Heiden, German Heide, Swedish heden, Danish hedensk (from heden + -sk), Icelandic heiðinn. See also Proto-Germanic *haiduz, Old Norse heiðr (honour, bright, moor), Icelandic heiður (honour).

noun/ˈhiːðən/

  1. A pagan; someone who is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim (other Abrahamic or monotheistic religions may or may not be included)

  2. An uncultured or uncivilized person, philistine.

    broadly

  3. Alternative letter-case form of Heathen (an adherent of the Germanic neo-pagan faith of Heathenry).

    alt-of
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hethen, from Old English hǣþen, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþin, from Proto-Germanic *haiþīnaz (“heathen, pagan”, adjective), equivalent to heath (“heathland”) + -en. Cognate with West Frisian heiden, Dutch heiden, Middle High German heiden, German Heiden, German Heide, Swedish heden, Danish hedensk (from heden + -sk), Icelandic heiðinn. See also Proto-Germanic *haiduz, Old Norse heiðr (honour, bright, moor), Icelandic heiður (honour).

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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.