Holy Spirit

English

Etymology 1

From Late Middle English Holy Speryte, holy spiriet, holy spyryt, an alteration of earlier Middle English Holygost, Haliȝ Gast, holy goost (see Holy Ghost), equivalent to holy +‎ Spirit.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

the Holy Spirit

1. (Christianity) The person (hypostasis) of the Trinity or Godhead corresponding to divine essence present in the faithful (particularly inspired prophets) and considered to proceed either from (Eastern Orthodoxy) God the Father alone or (Roman Catholicism) from Him together with God the Son.

   In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

   • 1731, “Dialogue on the Holy Spirit”, in Alexander Campbell, editor, The Millennial Harbinger, volume 2, page 553:

     The Holy Spirit is now the Spirit of Christ as it was once known by the title of the Spirit of God.

2. (Judaism) The spirit of God, especially the gifts of wisdom and prophecy.
3. (Baháʼí Faith) The spirit of God who delivers messages to humanity in the form of Manifestations of God.

Usage notes

• This expression has superseded Holy Ghost in many Christian denominations and Bible translations.

Synonyms

Christian: person of the Holy Trinity

• Comforter, Paraclete
• God the Holy Spirit
• Holy Ghost, God the Holy Ghost
• Perfecter of the Elect
• The Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Verity, Spirit of Light

Jewish: attribute of God

• Shekinah
• The Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord

Holonyms

• (Christian: person of the Holy Trinity): The Godhead, The Trinity

Coordinate terms

• (Christian: person of the Holy Trinity): God, God the Father; Jesus Christ, God the Son

Translations

Christian: person of the Holy Trinity

• Afrikaans: Heilige Gees
• Aghwan: 𐕆𐔴𐔾𐕒𐕡𐕇 𐕌𐕒𐕡𐕟𐕒𐕡𐕙 (helux̣ muc̣'ur), 𐕆𐔴𐔾 𐔱𐔼𐕀𐔰𐕃𐕒𐕡𐕘𐔶 (hel bixaʒ́uġē)
• Akan: Honhom Kronkron
• Albanian: Shpirti i Shenjtë m
• Amharic: መንፈስ ቅዱስ (mänfäs ḳədus)
• Ao: Tanela Temeshi (Chungli)
• Arabic: الرُّوح الْقُدُس m (ar-rūḥ al-qudus)
• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܪܘܼܚܵܐ ܕܩܘܼܕܫܵܐ (Ruḳa d-qudša)

• Armenian: Սուրբ Հոգի (Surb Hogi)
• Asturian: Espíritu Santu m
• Azerbaijani: Müqəddəs Ruh
• Basque: Espiritu Santua
• Belarusian: Святы́ Дух m (Svjatý Dux)
• Bengali: পবিত্র আত্মা ঈশ্বর (pobitro atta iśśor)
• Breton: Spered Santel (br) m
• Bulgarian: Свети Дух m (Sveti Duh)
• Carpathian Rusyn: Святый Дух (Svjatŷj Dux)
• Catalan: Esperit Sant m
• Cherokee: ᎦᎸᏉᏗᏳ ᎠᏓᏅᏙ (galvquodiyu adanvdo)
• Chichewa: Mzimu Woyera
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 聖靈 / 圣灵 (sing³ ling⁴), 聖神 / 圣神 (sing³ san⁴) (Catholic)

  Hakka: 聖靈 / 圣灵 (Sṳn-Lìn), 聖神 / 圣神 (Sṳn-Sṳ̀n)

  Hokkien: 聖神 / 圣神 (Sèng-sîn), 聖靈 / 圣灵 (Sèng-lêng)

  Mandarin: 聖靈 / 圣灵 (zh) (Shènglíng), 聖神 / 圣神 (zh) (Shèngshén) (Catholic)

  Wu: 聖神 / 圣神

• Chuvash: Сӑваплӑ Хакал (Săvaplă H̬ak̬al)
• Corsican: Spiritu Santu m
• Czech: Duch Svatý
• Danish: Helligånden c (definite form)
• Dutch: Heilige Geest (nl) m
• Esperanto: Sankta Spirito
• Estonian: Püha Vaim
• Faroese: Heilaga andan
• Finnish: Pyhä Henki (fi)
• French: Esprit-Saint (fr) m, Saint-Esprit (fr) m
• Frisian:

  Saterland Frisian: Helige Jeest m

  West Frisian: Hillige Geast m

• Friulian: Spirtussant m
• Galician: Espírito Santo m
• Georgian: სულიწმინდა (sulic̣minda)

  Old Georgian: სული (suli)

• German: Heiliger Geist (de) m

  Alemannic German: Heilige Geist

• Gothic: 𐌰𐌷𐌼𐌰 𐍃𐌰 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰 m (ahma sa weiha)
• Greek: Άγιο Πνεύμα (el) n (Ágio Pnévma), Παράκλητος m (Paráklitos)

  Ancient Greek: Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον n (Pneûma tò Hágion)

• Gujarati: પવિત્રાત્મા n (pavitrātmā)
• Haitian Creole: Sentespri
• Hebrew: רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ m (Rūaḥ haqqōḏeš)
• Hindi: पवित्र आत्मा (pavitra ātmā), पाक रूह f (pāk rūh)
• Hungarian: Szentlélek (hu)
• Iban: Roh Kudus
• Icelandic: Heilagur andi m
• Igbo: Mmuo Nso
• Indonesian: Roh Kudus
• Ingrian: Pyhä Henki
• Interlingua: Spirito Sancte
• Irish: An Spiorad Naomh m, An Naomhspiorad m
• Italian: Spirito Santo (it) m
• Japanese: 聖霊 (ja) (せいれい, Seirei)
• Javanese: Roh Kudus
• Kazakh: Киелі Рух (Kielı Rux)
• Korean: 성신 (聖神) (seongsin), 성령 (聖靈) (seongnyeong), 주님 (junim)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: گیانێ پیرۆز (gyanê pîroz), ڕۆحی پیرۆز (roḧî pîroz)

  Northern Kurdish: Giyanê Pîroz

• Kyrgyz: Касиеттүү Рух (Kasiyettüü Ruh)
• Lao: ພະວິນຍານບໍລິສຸດ (pha win nyān bǭ li sut)
• Latin: Spīritus Sānctus
• Latvian: Svētais Gars m
• Limburgish: Hèlge Geis (li) (Montfortian)
• Lingala: Molímo Mosántu
• Lithuanian: Šventoji Dvasia f
• Lombard: Spirit Sant m
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: Heilige Geest

• Luxembourgish: Hellege Geescht (lb) m
• Macedonian: Свет Дух f (Svet Duh)
• Malagasy: Fanahy Masina (mg)
• Malay: Roh Kudus
• Malayalam: പരിശുദ്ധാത്മാവ് (ml) (pariśuddhātmāvŭ)
• Maltese: Spirtu s-Santu, Ruħ il-Qodos
• Manchu: ᡝᠨᡩᡠᡵᡳᠩᡤᡝ
  ᡝᠨᡩᡠᡵᡳ (enduringge enduri)
• Manx: Yn Spyrryd Noo m
• Maranao: Rokol Kodos
• Marathi: पवित्र आत्मा (pavitra ātmā)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: Шнуй Шӱлыш (Šnuj Šülyš)

  Western Mari: Святой Шӱлӹш (Svatoj Šülÿš)

• Mingrelian: შურწკონდა (šurc̣ḳonda)
• Mongolian: Ариун Сүнс (Ariun Süns)
• Nahuatl:

  Classical Nahuatl: Spiritu Santo

• Navajo: Níłchʼi Diyinii
• Norman: Saint-Esprit m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Den hellige ånd (no) m

  Nynorsk: Den heilage ande m, Heilaganden m

• Occitan: Sant Esperit m

  Gascon: Sent Esperit m

• Old English: Hāliġ Gāst m
• Oromo: Afuura Qulqulluu
• Persian: روح القدس (fa) (ruh olquds), پاک روح (pâk ruh), روح‌القدس
• Piedmontese: Spirit Sant m
• Polish: Duch Boży m, Duch Święty (pl) m
• Portuguese: Espírito Santo (pt) m
• Punjabi:

  Western Punjabi: روح القدس

• Quechua: Ch'uya Ispiritu
• Romanian: Duhul Sfânt n, Spiritul Sfânt n
• Romansch: Sontg Spiert m
• Russian: Свято́й Дух (ru) m (Svjatój Dux)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: Bassi Vuoigŋa

• Samoan: Agaga Paia
• Sango: Yingö-Gbïä (sg), Yingö-Vulü (sg)
• Scottish Gaelic: Spiorad Naomh
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Све̑тӣ Ду̏х m, Ду̏х Све̑тӣ m

  Latin: Svȇtī Dȕh m, Dȕh Svȇtī m

• Shona: Mweya Mutsvene
• Sicilian: Spìritu Santu m, Spirdu Santu m
• Sindhi: روح القدس (roḥ ālqds)
• Slovak: Duch Svätý m
• Slovene: Sveti Duh m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: Swěty Duch m

  Upper Sorbian: Swjaty Duch m

• Spanish: Espíritu Santo m
• Sranan Tongo: Santa Yeye
• Swahili: Roho Mtakatifu
• Swedish: helig Ande
• Tagalog: Espiritu Santo
• Tahitian: te Varua Maitai
• Tai Dam: ꪹꪊ꫁ꪱꪄꪺꪙꪻꪎ (Chảu Khuôn Saư)
• Tamil: ஆவி (ta) (āvi), பரிசுத்த ஆவி (ta) (paricutta āvi), ஆவியானவர் (āviyāṉavar), தூயாவியார் (tūyāviyār)
• Thai: พระวิญญาณบริสุทธิ์ (prá win-yaan bor-rí-sùt)

  Northern Thai: ᨻᩕᩅᩥᨬ᩠ᨬᩣ᩠ᨱᨷᩬᩴᩁᩥᩈᩩᨴ᩠ᨵᩥ᩺

• Tokelauan: Agāga Paia
• Turkish: Kutsal Ruh (tr)
• Turkmen: Mukaddes Ruh
• Ukrainian: Святи́й Дух m (Svjatýj Dux)
• Urdu: روح القدس (rūh-ul-qūds), پاک روح f (pāk rūh)
• Uyghur: مۇقەددەس رۇھ (muqeddes ruh)
• Uzbek: Muqaddas Ruh
• Vietnamese: Thánh Thần (聖神), Thánh Linh
• Walloon: Sint Esprit m
• Waray-Waray: Espiritu Santo
• Welsh: Ysbryd Glân m
• Yiddish: רוח־הקודש (Ruekh-Hakoydesh)
• Zealandic: Heilige Geêst
• Zulu: Umoya ongcwele

Etymology 2

A calque of Arabic رُوح الْقُدُس (rūḥ al-qudus, “Spirit of Holiness”), a calque of the Ancient Greek and Hebrew senses above.

Proper noun

Holy Spirit

1. (Islam) The spirit of God, especially in its inspiration of prophets and quickening of fetuses.
2. (Islam) The archangel Gabriel.