blasphemy

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French blasfemie, from Ecclesiastical Latin blasphēmia, from Ancient Greek βλασφημία (blasphēmía, “profanity”), from βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to slander”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblæs.fə.mi/
• Rhymes: -æsfəmi

• Audio (CA):

  (file)

Noun

blasphemy (countable and uncountable, plural blasphemies)

1. irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable

   That imam said that drawing the prophet Muhammad is a form of blasphemy.

2. the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for any religion's deity or deities
3. (by extension) the act of disregarding a convention
   • 2015, Benjamin V. Root, Interactive Applications Using Matplotlib, Packt Publishing Ltd (→ISBN), page 89:

     I know this is utter blasphemy and completely incomprehensible to developers and power users who love their keyboard shortcuts, but some people just love having buttons on their screens with the exact name of their function written on them.

   • 1999, American Lutherie: The Quarterly Journal of the Guild of American Luthiers

     Some historical information is given on the Panormo family of guitar makers and a whole chapter is called, "Maccaferri's 'Monstrosity'," the name given Julian's Maccaferri guitar due to the blasphemy of its having more than six strings, ...

   • 2004, Touring Club of Italy, The Italian Wine Guide: The Definitive Guide to Touring, Sourcing and Tasting, Touring Editore (→ISBN), page 149:

     The market has responded well to this type of packaging [wine in cardboard containers], even if some consider it near blasphemy, and it has had a role in bringing wine to the younger generation and to social classes intimidated by the high price of many bottled products.

Synonyms

• (irreverent language): cursing, cussing, execration, imprecation, profanity, swearing
• (unholy act): profanation, desecration, sacrilege, violation

Antonyms

• reverence, veneration, worship, adoration

Derived terms

• blasphemous
• blasphemously
• blasphemousness

Related terms

• blaspheme

Translations

Irreverence toward something sacred

• Arabic: تَجْدِيف m (tajdīf)
• Belarusian: блюзьне́рства n (bljuzʹnjérstva), багаху́льства n (bahaxúlʹstva)
• Bulgarian: богоху́лство (bg) n (bogohúlstvo)
• Catalan: blasfèmia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 褻瀆／亵渎 (sit³ duk³)

  Mandarin: 褻瀆／亵渎 (zh) (xièdú), 亵渎 (zh) (xièdú)

• Czech: rouhání n
• Danish: blasfemi c
• Dutch: godslastering (nl) f, blasfemie (nl) f
• Esperanto: blasfemo (eo)
• Finnish: jumalanpilkka (fi), rienaus
• French: blasphème (fr) m
• Galician: blasfemia (gl) f
• Georgian: მკრეხელობა (mḳrexeloba)
• German: Blasphemie (de) f, Gotteslästerung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌽𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (naiteins)
• Greek: βλασφημία (el) f (vlasfimía)

  Ancient Greek: βλασφημία f (blasphēmía)

• Hebrew: חילול השם m (khilúl hashém)
• Hungarian: istenkáromlás (hu)
• Icelandic: guðlast n
• Indonesian: hujatan (id)
• Interlingue:
• Irish: diamhasla m, blaisféim f, dia-aithis f, naomhaithis f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: blasfemia (it) f, bestemmia (it) f
• Japanese: 冒涜 (ja) (ぼうとく, bōtoku), 不敬 (ja) (ふけい, fukei)
• Latin: blasphēmia f
• Manx: ard-vollaght f
• Norwegian: blasfemi
• Persian: کفرگویی (kofr-guyi)
• Polish: blasfemia (pl) f, bluźnierstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: blasfémia (pt) f (Portugal), blasfêmia (pt) f (Brazil)
• Romanian: blasfemie (ro) f
• Russian: богоху́льство (ru) n (bogoxúlʹstvo), кощу́нство (ru) n (koščúnstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: ana-cainnt f, baoth-bhriathar m, dia-aitheas m, dia-bheum m, dia-mhaslachadh m, eacnach m, grìosadaireachd f, lughadaireachd f, lùghadh m, naomh-aithris f, naomh-mhallachadh m, naomh-mhallachd f, speuradh m, toibheum m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: богохуљење n, богохулство n, бласфемија f

  Roman: bogohuljenje (sh) n, bogohulstvo (sh) n, blasfemija (sh) f

• Spanish: blasfemia (es) f
• Swahili: kufuru (sw)
• Swedish: hädelse (sv) c, blasfemi (sv) c
• Thai: การดูหมิ่น (th) (gaan-duu-mìn)
• Turkish: küfür (tr), hürmetsizlik (tr), kutsaltanımazlık, dine hakaret
• Ukrainian: богоху́льство (uk) n (bohoxúlʹstvo), блюзні́рство (uk) n (bljuznírstvo)
• Vietnamese: báng bổ (vi)