christen

See also: Christen

English

Alternative forms

• kersen (dialectal)
• christian

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English cristenen, cristnien, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English cristnian (“to christen, baptise”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English cristen (“Christen, Christian”) +‎ -nian. Cognate with Dutch kerstenen (“to christen”), Middle Low German kristenen, kerstenen, karstenen (“to christen”), Danish kristne (“to christen”) Swedish kristna (“to christen”), Icelandic kristna (“to christen”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪsən/
• Rhymes: -ɪsən

Verb

christen (third-person singular simple present christens, present participle christening, simple past and past participle christened)

1. To perform the religious act of the baptism, to baptise.

   The new baby was christened at the village church.

2. To name.

   I christen this ship the Bonny Barnacle.

   • Bishop Burnet

     Christen the thing what you will.

3. (obsolete) To Christianize.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jeremy Taylor to this entry?)

4. (colloquial) To use for the first time.

   I christened my new boots today with a walk in the snow.

Translations

to perform the religious act of baptism

• Armenian: մկրտել (hy) (mkrtel)
• Bulgarian: кръщавам (bg) (krǎštavam)
• Czech: pokřtít (cs) pf, křtít (cs) impf
• Dutch: dopen (nl)
• Esperanto: bapti
• Finnish: kastaa (fi)
• French: baptiser (fr)
• German: taufen (de)
• Hungarian: keresztel (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: battezzare (it)
• Portuguese: batizar (pt)
• Romanian: boteza (ro)
• Russian: крести́ть (ru) impf (krestítʹ), окрести́ть (ru) pf (okrestítʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: baist
• Swedish: döpa (sv)
• Westrobothnian:

to name

• Bulgarian: именувам (bg) (imenuvam), кръщавам (bg) (krǎštavam)
• Esperanto: bapti, nomi
• Finnish: ristiä (fi), kastaa (fi)
• French: baptiser (fr), nommer (fr)
• German: taufen (de)
• Hungarian: keresztel (hu)
• Italian: battezzare (it), inaugurare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: batizar (pt)
• Romanian: boteza (ro)
• Russian: крести́ть (ru) impf (krestítʹ), окрести́ть (ru) pf (okrestítʹ), называ́ть (ru) impf (nazyvátʹ), назва́ть (ru) pf (nazvátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: baist
• Swedish: döpa (sv)

Anagrams

• Nichters, Tinchers, centrish, chinrest, citherns, snitcher

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• kersten (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch cristen, variant of kersten, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Latin Christiānus, from Ancient Greek Χρῑστιᾱνός (Khrīstiānós). The current Dutch spelling has been influenced by the Latin and subsequently also the Greek words.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrɪs.tən/
• (some orthodox Protestants) IPA^(key): /ˈxrɪs.tən/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: chris‧ten

Noun

christen m (plural christenen, diminutive christentje n, feminine christin)

1. Christian

Derived terms

• christendemocraat
• christin
• gristen
• jodenchristen

Related terms

• christendom