saint

English Online Dictionary. What means saint‎? What does saint mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɪnt/
  • Rhymes: -eɪnt
• (UK, as an unstressed, capitalised title) IPA^(key): /sən(t)/, /sɨn(t)/

Etymology 1

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sanctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancire (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English hālga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).

Noun

saint (plural saints)

1. A person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

   Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed a saint.
2. (figuratively, by extension) A person with positive qualities; one who does good.

   Dorothy Day was a living saint.

   Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!

3. One of the blessed in heaven.
4. (archaic) A holy object.

Synonyms

• (holy person): hallow (obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hallow
• holos
• holy

Etymology 2

From Middle English saynten, seinten, sonten, partly from Anglo-Norman saintir and partly from the noun Middle English seint, seynt (see above).

Verb

saint (third-person singular simple present saints, present participle sainting, simple past and past participle sainted)

1. (transitive) To canonize, to formally recognize someone as a saint.

   Many wish to see Pope John Paul II sainted immediately.

Translations

Further reading

• saint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• saint in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Astin, Insta, Santi, Sinta, Tanis, Tians, antis, insta-, sat in, satin, stain, stian, tians, tisan

---

French

Etymology

From Latin sanctus (“holy”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃/
• Rhymes: -ɛ̃
• Homophones: sain, sains, saints, sein, seing, seings, seins, ceins, ceint, ceints

Noun

saint m (plural saints, feminine sainte)

1. saint

Adjective

saint (feminine singular sainte, masculine plural saints, feminine plural saintes)

1. saintly (all meanings)

Derived terms

• guerre sainte
• terre sainte

Further reading

• “saint” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• tians

---

Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

saint f (genitive singular sainte)

1. greed, avarice, covetousness
2. great eagerness, desire

Declension

Synonyms

• cíocras, gabhálacht (“avarice”)

Mutation

---

Norman

Etymology

From Old French saint, from Latin sanctus (“holy”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

saint m

1. (Jersey) holy

Noun

saint m (plural saints)

1. (Jersey, religion) saint

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• sanct (rare)
• saent (rare)
• seint (common, chiefly Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Latin sanctus

Noun

saint m (oblique plural sainz or saintz, nominative singular sainz or saintz, nominative plural saint)

1. saint

Declension

Adjective

saint m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sainte)

1. holy
2. pious; devout

Descendants

• → English: saint
• French: saint
• Norman: saint (Jersey)

---

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sai̯nt/

Noun

saint m pl (not mutable)

1. plural of sant