christen
/ˈkɹɪsən/
christen verb: to perform the religious rite of baptism upon; to baptize.
Verb
christen (third-person singular simple present christens, present participle christening, simple past and past participle christened)
- To perform the religious rite of baptism upon; to baptize.
- The new baby was christened at the village church.
- Lewis the 9th of France, being asked by vvhat ſtile he vvould be called, ſaid, Levvis of Poyſſy. […] [S]aid he, I deſire to be called Levvis of Poyſſy, becauſe there I got the moſt glorious victory that ever I had; For there I overcame the Divell: meaning that he vvas chriſtned there.1651, “An Addition of Apothegmes by Severall Authors”, in George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum. Or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. […], London: […] T[homas] Maxey for T[imothy] Garthwait, […], →OCLC...
- To name.
- I christen this ship the Bonny Barnacle.
- Christen the thing what you will.1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth
- To Christianize.
- I must tell you that christianity hath new christened it1657, Jeremy Taylor, Discourse of the Nature, Offices and Measures of Friendship
- To use for the first time.
- I christened my new boots today with a walk in the snow.
- Foo Fighters, the Pretenders, and Alex G christened Portland’s newest music venue Friday night, and it was a show for the ages.2024 August 19, Melissa Locker, “Foo Fighters Rock the Hell Out of Portland's New 30,000-Seat Stadium”, in Portland Mercury
- To douse or wet with blood, urine, tears, or other liquid.
- Thus was De Witt's colony, like Austin's, at the mouth of the Colorado, christened in blood, and thus for the moment ended the first effort to found a settlement within its limits.1892, John Henry Brown, History of Texas; from 1685 to 1892 - Volume 1, page 127
- I christened the facilities, shrugged into my windbreaker, and met Dolan at his door.2002, Sue Grafton, Q Is for Quarry
Adjective capitalized: Christen
Christen (not comparable)
- Obsolete form of Christian.
- Mrs. Dashwood had never been so much pleased with any young women in her life, as she was with them; had given each of them a needle-book, made by some emigrant; called Lucy by her christen name; and did not know whether she should ever be able to part with them.1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 277–278
Noun capitalized: Christen
Christen (plural Christens)
- Obsolete form of Christian.
Examples of christen in a sentence
- Being christened by a urinating bare-bottomed newborn is almost a rite of passage of parenthood.2005, Linda Sonna, Early-Start Potty Training, page viii:
- By the way if, as part of your fatherhood journey, you haven't been vomited on, had poo squirted on you, or been christened with pee yet, you're not trying hard enough.2010, Stefan Korn, Scott Lancaster, Eric Mooij, Being a Great Dad For Dummies, page 122:
- A daddy-long-legs lurched against the white-washed walls while Surefire christened the lime-swilled fresh bucket with a strong stream of urine.2012, Glory Keveme, Broken Wings, page 51:
Forms of christen
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | christens |
| present participle | christening |
| past participle | christened |
| past | christened |
| alternative form | christian |
| alternative form (dialectal) | kersen |
| Noun | |
| plural | Christens |
Origin of christen
From Middle English cristenen, cristnien, from Old English cristnian (“to christen, baptise”), from cristen (“Christen, Christian”) + -nian. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kristenje (“to christen”), Dutch kerstenen (“to christen”), Middle Low German kristenen, kerstenen, karstenen (“to christen”), Danish kristne (“to christen”), Swedish kristna (“to christen”), Icelandic kristna (“to christen”). By surface analysis, Christ + -en.
From Middle English Cristen, from Old English crīsten (ca. 890), from Latin Christiānus.
Words formed from christen
Phrases with christen
Words that rhyme with christen
Questions about christen
- What does christen mean?
- Christen means to perform the religious rite of baptism upon; to baptize.
- How do you use christen in a sentence?
- Being christened by a urinating bare-bottomed newborn is almost a rite of passage of parenthood.
- What part of speech is christen?
- Christen can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce christen?
- Christen is pronounced /ˈkɹɪsən/.
- What is the past tense of christen?
- The past tense of christen is christened.
Words near christen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: christen (page history and authors); Christen (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-christen.wav.
Cite this entry: “christen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/christen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.