Word.ws English Dictionary

heathenry

heathenry noun: the state of being heathen. Also the alternative letter-case form of Heathenry.

Noun

heathenry (usually uncountable, plural heathenries)

  1. (usually) The state of being heathen.
    • It was as though she were some tinted and lavishly adorned statue of barbaric heathenry, and he her postulant; and her large eyes appeared to judge an immeasurable path, beyond him.1921, James Branch Cabell, Chivalry
    • In the simpler case of northern heathenry the civilization spread with a simplier progress.1917, G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England

Proper noun capitalized: Heathenry

Heathenry

  1. The old Germanic (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, etc.) religion(s).
  2. Any modern reconstruction of one of these religions; Germanic neopaganism.
    • In Britain, Heathenry is the most common name used for an emergent religion based on the old gods, goddesses, and spirits (wights) that were part of everyday life in Northern Europe before the coming of the Christian era. Thus, Heathenry is, in some sense, a reconstructed religion. People often...2005, Jenny Blain, “Chapter Five: Heathenry, the Past, and Sacred Sites in Today's Britain”, in Michael Strmiska, editor, Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, page 181
    • Comparatively, they are understanding, if not accepting, of Neo-Pagan influence; many Universalists even consider Heathenry to fall under the Neo-Pagan umbrella—a position most Folkish Heathens and Tribalists reject.2005, Galina Krasskova, Exploring the Northern Tradition, page 23

Also used as

heathenry is also the alternative letter-case form of Heathenry.

Forms of heathenry

pluralheathenries

Origin of heathenry

From heathen + -ry.

From heathenry.

Questions about heathenry

What does heathenry mean?
Heathenry means the state of being heathen.
What part of speech is heathenry?
Heathenry can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of heathenry?
The plural of heathenry is heathenries.

Words near heathenry in the dictionary

  1. heathenizing
  2. heathenly
  3. heathenness
  4. heathenous
  5. heathenries
  6. heathenry
  7. heathens
  8. heathenship
  9. heathenships
  10. heather
  11. heather ale

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heathenry (page history and authors); Heathenry (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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Cite this entry: “heathenry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heathenry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.