pagan
/ˈpeɪɡən/
pagan adjective: relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions. Also the alternative form of paigon.
Adjective
pagan (not comparable)
- Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions.
- Under Christianization, many converted societies transformed their pagan deities into saints.
- Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that typically takes on anti-Christian, satanic and pagan themes.2019 April 12, Paul P. Murphy, Samira Said, “Louisiana arson suspect expressed disgust with Baptist churches on Facebook”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2021
- Synonyms:
- heathen, heathenish, heathenly, heathenous
- Savage, immoral, uncivilized, wild.
- Synonyms:
- barbarian, barbaric, heathen, wolfish, animalistic, barbarious, barbarous, brutal, brutish, Gothic
Noun
pagan (plural pagans)
- A person not adhering to a main world religion; a follower of a pantheistic or nature-worshipping religion.
- This community has a surprising number of pagans.
- An uncivilized or unsocialized person.
- Synonyms:
- paynim, philistine, savage
- An unruly, badly educated child.
- Synonyms:
- brat
- An outlaw biker who is a member of the Pagans MC.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Pagan
Pagan (plural Pagans)
- A male given name from Latin.
- A female given name.
- 'I've always believed that one of the reasons she never named Pagan's father was to spare her a similar pain.' 'You don't know who he is?' 'No. And, at the risk of sounding like Candida, I'd give anything to find out.'2011 April 19, Michael Arditti, Pagan and Her Parents, Arcadia Books, →ISBN
- In 2012, author Pagan Kennedy was hired by The New York Times magazine to write a column titled “Who Made That?” She began to hunt the people down behind inventions like sliced bread, the 3-D printer, and lipstick.(Can we date this quote?), QuickRead, Lea Schullery, Inventology by Pagan Kennedy (Summary), QuickRead.com
- A surname.
- Mrs Pagan was delivered of a posthumous child, and thereafter along with the infant (a girl), she brought a process of aliment against John Pagan, who was a hosier in Dumfries, and alleged to be wealthy,[…]1838, Scotland. Court of Session, Cases Decided in the Court of Session, Teind Court, Court of Exchequer and House of Lords, page 399
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Pagan
IPA/pəˈɡɑːn/
Pagan
Also used as
pagan is also the alternative form of paigon.
pagan meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
pagan in Hindi
- person not adhering to a main world religion
- बुतपरस्त butparast
pagan in Tamil
- புறமதத்தவர்
pagan in Marathi
- मूर्तिपूजक
pagan in Urdu
- person not adhering to a main world religion
- بُت پَرَسْت but parast
More languagesFewer languages
- pagan in Bengali
- পৌত্তলিক, পাগান
- pagan in Telugu
- అన్యమతస్థుడు
- pagan in Malayalam
- പുറജാതീയൻ
- pagan in Kannada
- ಪೇಗನ್, ಪಾಗನ್
- pagan in Gujarati
- મૂર્તિપૂજક
- pagan in Odia
- ପୌତ୍ତଳୀ, ପାଗାନ୍, ପେଗାନ୍
- pagan in Nepali
- मूर्तिपूजक
- pagan in Pashto
- بت پرست bot parast
- pagan in Tagalog
- pagano, di-binyagan
- pagan in Arabic
- وَثَنِيّ waṯaniyy, جَاهِل jāhil, وَحْشِيّ waḥšiyy, وَثَنِيَّة waṯaniyya
- pagan in Persian
- بت پرست bât pârest
- pagan in Vietnamese
- ngoại đạo
Examples of pagan in a sentence
- The combination of brk and rb is quite spectacular from the perspective of the pagan Arabian inscriptions.
- The name later came to be misvocalized and misconstrued as if there were such a pagan god.
- Foulon began to swear like a pagan, shouting: ‘Get thee hence, thou rogue and blackguard!
Synonyms of pagan
18 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of pagan
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pagans |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Pagans |
Origin of pagan
From Middle English pagan (adjective and noun), from Latin pāgānus (“rural, rustic; civilian”), replaced Middle English payen from the same root. The meaning “not Christian” arose in Vulgar Latin, probably from the 4th century, owing to the Roman countryside being largely non-Christian, or potentially from the “civilian” meaning—denoting those not in the “army of Christ”. As a self-designation of neopagans, attested since 1990. Partly displaced native heathen, from Old English hǣþen. Note the opposition: pagan, peasant (related via pāgus), rustic, savage (<< Latin silvāticus), villain (<< Latin vīllānus), boorish vs. urbane, civil, courteous (akin to court). Also note Ancient Greek ἄγροικος (ágroikos) vs. ἀστεῖος (asteîos).
Borrowed from Latin pāgānus (“rustic, rural”).
Borrowing from Burmese ပုဂံ (pu.gam). Doublet of Bagan.
Words formed from pagan
- anti-pagan
- Christopagan
- curse like a pagan
- neopagan
- nonpagan
- pagandom
- paganess
- paganic
- paganing
- paganise
- paganish
- paganism
- paganist
- paganistic
- paganity
- paganization
- paganize
- paganly
- paganness
- paganophile
- paganry
- playgan
- postpagan
- semipagan
- swear like a pagan
- technopagan
- unpagan
- neo-pagan
- Pagans Flat
Phrases with pagan
Words that rhyme with pagan
Questions about pagan
- What does pagan mean?
- Pagan means relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions.
- What is pagan in Hindi?
- Pagan in Hindi is बुतपरस्त (butparast). See Pagan meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pagan?
- Pagan can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce pagan?
- Pagan is pronounced /ˈpeɪɡən/.
Words near pagan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pagan (page history and authors); Pagan (page history and authors); pagan (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pagan (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-pagan.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pagan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pagan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
