Word.ws English Dictionary

Barlaam

Barlaam proper noun: a legendary saint in the tale of Barlaam and Josaphat.

Proper noun

Barlaam

  1. A legendary saint in the tale of Barlaam and Josaphat.
  2. (rare) A male given name from Latin.

Origin of Barlaam

Unknown. The immediate source is Medieval Latin Barlaam, itself borrowed from Byzantine Greek Βαρλαάμ (Barlaám) in the Byzantine Life of Barlaam and Josaphat (probably 11th c.), itself likely borrowed from Georgian ბალაჰვარ (balahvar). First attested c. 8th century as Arabic بِلَوْهَر (bilawhar), perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit भगवान् (bhagavān, “God”) or from Sanskrit पुरोहित (purohita, “priest”) via an unattested Middle Persian form.

Words formed from Barlaam

Questions about Barlaam

What does Barlaam mean?
Barlaam means a legendary saint in the tale of Barlaam and Josaphat.
What part of speech is Barlaam?
Barlaam is a proper noun.

Words near Barlaam in the dictionary

  1. Barkston Ash
  2. Barkul
  3. Barkus
  4. Barkuses
  5. barky
  6. Barlaam
  7. Barlaamite
  8. Barlaamites
  9. barladies
  10. barlady
  11. barlafumble

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Barlaam (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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