John the Baptist

English

Etymology

From Middle English Johan þe Babtis, from Latin Iōannēs Baptista.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

John the Baptist

1. A New Testament prophet who baptized Jesus and was subsequently executed by Herod Antipas.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:1–2:

     In those daies came Iohn the Baptist, preaching in the wildernesse of Iudea, And saying, Repent yee: for the kingdome of heauen is at hand.

Derived terms

• St. John the Baptist Parish

Translations

biblical prophet

• Afrikaans: Johannes die Doper
• Aghwan: 𐔺𐕒𐕛𐕆𐔰𐕎𐔶𐕚 𐕀𐔰𐕐𐔾𐕒𐕡𐕘𐔰𐔾 (yovhanēs xašluġal)
• Albanian: Gjon Pagëzori
• Arabic: يُوحَنَّا الْمَعْمَدَان (yūḥannā l-maʕmadān), يَحْيَى (ar) (yaḥyā)
• Armenian: Հովհաննես Մկրտիչ (Hovhannes Mkrtičʻ)
• Azerbaijani: Vəftizçi İohann
• Basque: Joan Bataiatzailea
• Belarusian: Іаан Прадцеча m (Iaan Pradcječa), Іаан Хрысціцель m (Iaan Xryscicjelʹ)
• Breton: Yann ar Badezour m
• Bulgarian: Йоан Кръстител m (Joan Krǎstitel), Йоан Предтеча m (Joan Predteča)
• Catalan: Joan Baptista m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 施洗約翰／施洗约翰 (zh) (shīxǐ Yuēhàn), 施洗者約翰／施洗者约翰 (zh) (shīxǐzhě Yuēhàn), 若翰洗者 (Shèng Ruòhàn xǐzhě) (Catholic)

• Coptic: ⲓⲱϩⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ ⲡⲃⲁⲡⲧⲓⲥⲧⲏⲥ m (iōhannēs pbaptistēs)
• Czech: Jan Křtitel m
• Danish: Johannes Døberen
• Dutch: Johannes de Doper
• Esperanto: Johano la Baptisto
• Estonian: Ristija Johannes
• Finnish: Johannes Kastaja (fi)
• French: Jean le Baptiste, Jean-Baptiste (fr)

  Old French: Jehan Baptiste m

• Galician: Xoán Bautista m
• Georgian: იოანე ნათლისმცემელი (ioane natlismcemeli)
• German: Johannes der Täufer
• Greek: Ιωάννης ο Βαπτιστής m (Ioánnis o Vaptistís), Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος m (Ioánnis o Pródromos)

  Ancient: Ἰωάννης m (Iōánnēs), Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστής m (Iōánnēs ho baptistḗs), Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτίζων m (Iōánnēs ho baptízōn)

• Hebrew: יוחנן המטביל
• Hindi: यूहन्ना m (yūhannā)
• Hungarian: Keresztelő János
• Indonesian: Yohannes Pembaptis
• Irish: Eoin Baiste m
• Italian: Giovanni Battista m
• Japanese: 洗礼者ヨハネ (senreisha Yohane)
• Korean: 세례자 요한 (seryeja yohan)
• Latin: Ioannes Baptista m
• Latvian: Jānis Kristītājs m
• Limburgish: Johannes de Duiper
• Lithuanian: Jonas Krikštytojas m
• Luxembourgish: Johannes den Deefer
• Macedonian: Јован Крстител (Jovan Krstitel)
• Malay: John Pembaptis
• Maltese: Ġwanni l-Battista, Ġwanni l-Għammied
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Johannes Døperen

  Nynorsk: Døyparen Johannes

• Old English: Iōhannes sē Fulluhtere m
• Persian: یحیی (fa) (yahyâ), یوحنا معمدان (yuhannâ ma'madân)
• Plautdietsch: Johanes de Deepa
• Polish: Jan Chrzciciel (pl) m, Jan Baptysta m
• Portuguese: João Batista m
• Romanian: Ioan Botezătorul m
• Russian: Иоанн Креститель (Ioann Krestitelʹ), Иоа́нн Предте́ча m (Ioánn Predtéča)
• Scottish Gaelic: Eòin Baistidh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Јован Крститељ, Иван Крститељ

  Roman: Jovan Krstitelj, Ivan Krstitelj

• Slovak: Ján Krstiteľ
• Slovene: Jánez Krstník (sl) m
• Spanish: Juan Bautista
• Sundanese: Yohanes Pangbanyu
• Swahili: Yohane Mbatizaji
• Swedish: Johannes döparen
• Turkish: Vaftizci Yahya
• Ukrainian: Іва́н Хрести́тель m (Iván Xrestýtelʹ), Іван Предтеча m (Ivan Predteča), Йоан Хреститель m (Joan Xrestytelʹ), Йоан Предтеча m (Joan Predteča), Іоан Хреститель m (Ioan Xrestytelʹ), Іоан Предтеча m (Ioan Predteča)
• Urdu: یوحنا اصطباغی, یوحنا بپتسمہ دینے والا
• Vietnamese: Gioan Baotixita, Gioan Tẩy Giả, Gioan Tiền Hô (Catholic), Giăng Báp-tít (Protestant)
• Welsh: Ioan Fedyddiwr m

Noun

John the Baptist

1. (figuratively) A harbinger or prophetic figure, often one initially ignored or rejected by others.
   • 1938 January 17, “Books: Keyserling”, in Time‎^[1], volume 31, page 62:

     […] and praise such as Glenn Frank’s: “Keyserling may turn out to be a John the Baptist of a new Western civilization.”

   • 1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 184:

     In 1935 Szálasi had been a lonely John the Baptist in Hungarian politics, the self-appointed leader of a tiny party, less than 500 strong, advocating an unpopular cause.

   • 2003 September 21, Frank Kermode, “‘Pieces of My Mind’”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Ellis makes Diaghilev a John the Baptist of a ‘classico-mathematical Renaissance’, and the notion that this was a renaissance of some kind or other was evidently in the air.

Related terms

• voice in the wilderness

Further reading

• “John the Baptist”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “John the Baptist”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “John the Baptist”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “John the Baptist”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.