Word.ws English Dictionary

hymnody

UK/ˈhɪm.nə.di/

hymnody noun: the writing, composing, or singing of hymns or psalms.

Noun

hymnody (countable and uncountable, plural hymnodies)

  1. (uncountable) The writing, composing, or singing of hymns or psalms.
    • Primeval Worſhip, Lord, retrieve, / For whoſe Decays the Faithful grieve, / For as thy Temple-Off'rings fall or riſe, / Hymnody chills or fires, Religion lives or dies.1721, Thomas Ken, edited by J. Wyat, The Works of the Right Reverend, Learned and Pious, Thomas Ken, D.D., volume IV, Vrania: or, the Spouſe's Garden, page 448
  2. (countable) The hymns of a particular church or of a particular time.
    • Therefore do we recite this Seraphick Theology delivered to us, that in that cæleſtial Hymnody we may communicate with the Heavenly Hoſt …1718, William Gordon, edited by J. Bettenham, An Apology for the Use of the English Liturgy and Worship, page 56

Forms of hymnody

pluralhymnodies

Origin of hymnody

From Old French hymnodie, from Latin hymnodia, from Ancient Greek ὑμνῳδία (humnōidía), from ὑμνῳδέω (humnōidéō, “to sing a hymn”), from ὕμνος (húmnos, “song of praise”) + ἀείδω (aeídō, “to sing”).

Questions about hymnody

What does hymnody mean?
Hymnody means the writing, composing, or singing of hymns or psalms.
What part of speech is hymnody?
Hymnody is a noun.
How do you pronounce hymnody?
Hymnody is pronounced /ˈhɪm.nə.di/ (UK).
What is the plural of hymnody?
The plural of hymnody is hymnodies.

Words near hymnody in the dictionary

  1. hymnlike
  2. hymnodic
  3. hymnodies
  4. hymnodist
  5. hymnodists
  6. hymnody
  7. hymnographer
  8. hymnographers
  9. hymnographical
  10. hymnographically
  11. hymnography

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hymnody (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: “hymnody.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hymnody. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.