apikoros
/ˌɑːpiːˈkɔɹəs/
apikoros noun: a Jewish skeptic or apostate.
Noun
apikoros (plural apikorsim)
- A Jewish skeptic or apostate.
- And these are they that have no portion in the world to come: He who says that the revivification of the dead cannot be proved from the Law, and that the Law is not from heaven, and an Apikoros (that is, one that does not fully believe in the Law).1882, Paul Isaac Hershon (tr.), Treasures of the Talmud, page 48
- A persistent fear worried the Jews of the early Diasporas and of Hellenistic times: the fear that a child of theirs might grow up to be an am-haaretz—a peasant, ignorant of Torah; or, even worse, an apikoros—a sophisticated unbeliever who abandons Jewish faith to indulge in rationalistic...1961, Daniel Bell, “Reflections on Jewish Identity”, in Commentary Magazine
Forms of apikoros
| plural | apikorsim |
|---|---|
| alternative form | apikores |
| alternative form | Apikoros |
| alternative form | apikoyres |
| alternative form | apikorus |
| alternative form | epikoros |
Origin of apikoros
From Hebrew אֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס (epikóros, “heretic”), from Ancient Greek Ἐπίκουρος (Epíkouros, “Epicurus”), but later associated with Aramaic אַפְקֵר (ʾap̄ḳēr, “to abandon”).
Questions about apikoros
- What does apikoros mean?
- Apikoros means a Jewish skeptic or apostate.
- What part of speech is apikoros?
- Apikoros is a noun.
- How do you pronounce apikoros?
- Apikoros is pronounced /ˌɑːpiːˈkɔɹəs/.
- What is the plural of apikoros?
- The plural of apikoros is apikorsim.
Words near apikoros in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: apikoros (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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