Noun: heathen
| Singular | heathen |
| Plural | heathens; heathen |
Sample Sentences
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On the heathens coming alongside the vessel, Otnit assumes the character of a merchant, and is admitted to enter the port. [1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 211:]
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V. Knox
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If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens.
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On hearing his cries two heathen who were hunting on the lagoon ran up, and they were bold enough to try to avenge the injury, making ready to shoot arrows at the soldiers, who fired two gunshots just to frighten them […] [1930, H. E. Bolton, Anza's California expeditions, volume 1, page 403:]
Nouns inflected like heathen
whiting,
Munduruku,
Mundurucu,
sempai,
senpai,
saseng,
satang,
cunjevoi,
sansei,
Namboothiri,
somoni,
Sentinelese,
siopao,
shogun,
shinza,
Barakzai,
Chippewyan,
Diaguita,
shōgun,
thermal horsepower, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English hethen, from Old English hǣþen, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþin, from Proto-Germanic *haiþīnaz (“heathen, pagan”, adjective), equivalent to heath (“heathland”) + -en.
2. Cognate with West Frisian heiden, Dutch heiden, Middle High German heiden, German Heiden, German Heide, Swedish heden, Danish hedensk (from heden+sk), Icelandic heiðinn. See also Proto-Germanic *haiduz, Old Norse heiðr (honour, bright, moor), Icelandic heiður (honour). See: Middle English Nouns '
hethen', Old English Nouns '
hǣþen', Dutch Nouns '
heiden', German Nouns '
Heide', Icelandic Nouns '
heiðinn', Old Norse Nouns '
heiðr', Icelandic Nouns '
heiður'.