churchgoer

See also: church-goer

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-der.

Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁ryós

Proto-Hellenic *kúrios

Ancient Greek κῡ́ριος (kū́rios)

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Hellenic *-kos

Ancient Greek -κός (-kós)

Ancient Greek -ακός (-akós)

Koine Greek κῡριακός (kūriakós)nom.

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Hellenic *-on

Ancient Greek -ον (-on)

Koine Greek κῡρῐᾰκόν (kūrĭăkón)bor.

Proto-West Germanic *kirikā

Old English ċiriċe

Middle English chirche

English church

English goer

English churchgoer

From church + goer.

Noun

churchgoer (plural churchgoers)

1. One who regularly goes to church; a practicing Christian.

   Hypernym: person

   Coordinate terms: synagogue-goer, shulgoer, temple-goer, templegoer, mosque-goer, shrinegoer, gurdwara-goer

   Near-synonym: chapelgoer

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:

     Well, one Christmas Eve, just like to-night, she thought she would go to the morning service on the Christmas Day, for she was a great church-goer, and so she left out some coffee with the girl before she went to bed, that she might get a cup next morning she was sure a cup of warm coffee would do her a great deal of good at that early hour!

   • 1985, Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, →ISBN, page 58:

     A forced churchgoer has no religion, a terrified churchgoer has no Christianity, a bribed churchgoer has no morals.

   • 2020 January 18, Kate Cherrell, “Hudds, Huds and Hudes: Graveside Shelters of Yesteryear”, in Burials & Beyond‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 February 2021:

     While hudds are consigned to the history books thanks to the invention of the umbrella, they remain a fascinating link to our past and a welcome treat for travelling historians, churchgoers and tourists alike.

Derived terms

• nonchurchgoer

Related terms

• churchman
• churchperson
• churchwoman

Translations

one who goes to church

• Catalan: practicant (ca) m or f
• Danish: kirkegænger (da) c
• Dutch: kerkganger (nl) m, kerkbezoeker m
• Finnish: kirkossakävijä (fi)
• French: pratiquant (fr) m, chrétien pratiquant m, catholique pratiquant m
• German: Kirchgänger (de) m, Kirchgängerin (de) f, Kirchengänger (de) m, Kirchengängerin (de) f, Gottesdienstbesucher (de) m, Gottesdienstbesucherin f, Kirchenbesucher (de) m, Kirchenbesucherin (de) f, Teilnehmer am Gottesdienst m, Teilnehmerin am Gottesdienst f
• Irish: Aifreannach m
• Italian: praticante (it) m
• Macedonian: црквар m (crkvar), цркварка f (crkvarka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kirkegjenger m

  Nynorsk: kyrkjegangar m, kyrkjegjengar m

• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see wierzący (pl)
• Portuguese: fiel (pt) m or f
• Spanish: practicante (es) m or f
• Swedish: kyrkobesökare (sv) c
• Tagalog: maninimba

See also

• believer