paynim
/ˈpeɪnɪm/
paynim noun: a pagan or heathen, especially a Muslim, or a Jew.
Noun
paynim (plural paynims)
- A pagan or heathen, especially a Muslim, or a Jew.
- But there was one knyght that dyd merueyllously thre dayes / and he bare a black shelde / and of alle knyghtes that euer I sawe he preued the best knyȝt / thenne said Kyng mark that was syre launcelot or syre palomydes the paynym1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxxviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IX
- And if it be idolatry to do as the paynims did—make an idol “God”—it must needs be much worse idolatry to do as these heretics do,1530, Thomas More, The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer, Preface to the Christian reader
Examples of paynim in a sentence
- To this his native soyle thou backe shalt bring, / Strongly to ayde his countrey to withstand / The powre of forreine Paynims which invade thy land.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- (Though like a covered field, where champions bold / Wont ride in armed, and at the soldan's chair / Defied the best of paynim chivalry / To mortal combat, or career with lance).1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert...
- St Helen’s bell rang reminders that she lived, a paynim or Mahometan, in the church’s shadow.1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The Sun:
Forms of paynim
| plural | paynims |
|---|---|
| alternative form | painim |
| alternative form | painym |
| alternative form | paynym |
Origin of paynim
From Middle English paynym, paynyme, from Anglo-Norman paienime, peinime et al., from Late Latin paganismus (“paganism”), from Latin paganus (“pagan”). Doublet of paganism.
Questions about paynim
- What does paynim mean?
- Paynim means a pagan or heathen, especially a Muslim, or a Jew.
- How do you use paynim in a sentence?
- To this his native soyle thou backe shalt bring, / Strongly to ayde his countrey to withstand / The powre of forreine Paynims which invade thy land.
- What part of speech is paynim?
- Paynim is a noun.
- How do you pronounce paynim?
- Paynim is pronounced /ˈpeɪnɪm/.
- What is the plural of paynim?
- The plural of paynim is paynims.
Words near paynim in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paynim (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: “paynim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paynim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.