Word.ws English Dictionary

introit

Syllables: in·troitUK/ˈɪntɹɔɪt//ˈɪnˌtɹɔɪt/

introit noun: a prayer, typically part of a psalm or other portion of the Bible, read or sung at the start of Mass while or immediately after the priest ascends to the altar.

introit: a prayer, typically part of a psalm or other portion of the Bible, read or sung at the start of...
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

introit (plural introits)

  1. A prayer, typically part of a psalm or other portion of the Bible, read or sung at the start of Mass while or immediately after the priest ascends to the altar.
    • The Glossary of Terms used by ecclesiastics in the middle ages, who describe a day by the “introit,” or commencement of the service appointed by the church to be performed thereon, and an explanation of the Canonical Hours, Watches, &c. will frequently be found useful.[1833, [Nicholas] Harris Nicolas, “Preface”, in Dionysius Lardner, editor, The Chronology of History. […] (The Cabinet Cyclopædia; XLIV), London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman...
    • Adorate Dominum. The introit* and name of the third Sunday after the Epiphany. [Footnote *: Introit.—The first two or more words that form the commencement of a mass, which, from being appropriated to a certain Sunday, or other festival, give the name of such commencement or "introit" to these...1833, [Nicholas] Harris Nicolas, “A Glossary of Dates; […]”, in Dionysius Lardner, editor, The Chronology of History. […] (The Cabinet Cyclopædia; XLIV), London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown...
    Synonyms:
    introitus
  2. Any piece of choral music, especially a setting of an anthem or a psalm, sung at the opening of a church service.
  3. (obsolete) The action of entering or going in; an entrance.
  4. (figuratively, obsolete) An introduction.

Synonyms of introit

Forms of introit

pluralintroits

Origin of introit

PIE word *h₁én From Late Middle English introite (“act of entering in or into, entrance; place of entrance”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman introït, introïte (“introit”), or from its etymon Latin introitus (“act of entering in or into, entrance; passage; place of entrance; (figuratively) beginning, introduction, prelude”), from introeō (“to enter, go in”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs). Introeō is derived from intrō (“to enter, go into”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”)) + eō (“to go”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”)).

Words formed from introit

Words that rhyme with introit

Questions about introit

What does introit mean?
Introit means a prayer, typically part of a psalm or other portion of the Bible, read or sung at the start of Mass while or immediately after the priest ascends to the altar.
What part of speech is introit?
Introit is a noun.
How do you pronounce introit?
Introit is pronounced /ˈɪntɹɔɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of introit?
The plural of introit is introits.

Words near introit in the dictionary

  1. introgressively
  2. introgressor
  3. introgressors
  4. Introibo
  5. introing
  6. introit
  7. introital
  8. introitive
  9. introits
  10. introitus
  11. introitus vaginae

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: introit (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: En-us-introit.mp3.

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