papacy

English

Etymology

Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pāʹ-pə-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.pə.si/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪpəsi

Noun

papacy (countable and uncountable, plural papacies)

1. The office of a pope.

   Coordinate term: episcopacy

   1. (usually) The office of the pope of Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

      The Vatican defends the primacy of the papacy.

2. The period of a particular pope's reign.

   The papacy of John Paul II ended in 2005, after the pope's long battle with illness ended.

3. (often derogatory) Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.

Derived terms

• antipapacy
• caesaropapacy

Related terms

• papal
• papism
• pope
• popishness

Translations

the office

• Armenian: պապականություն (hy) (papakanutʻyun), պապություն (hy) (paputʻyun)
• Catalan: papat (ca) m, pontificat m
• Danish: pavedømme n
• Dutch: pausdom (nl) n, pontificaat (nl) n
• French: papauté (fr) m
• Galician: papado (gl) m, pontificado m
• German: Papstamt n
• Greek: παπισμός (el) m (papismós)
• Hungarian: pápaság (hu)
• Italian: papato (it) m
• Latin: pāpātia f
• Māori: popitanga
• Norman: papaûté f
• Norwegian: pavedømme n
• Occitan: papat m, papautat m, pontificat m
• Polish: papiestwo (pl) n, tiara (pl) f, tron Piotrowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: papado (pt) m
• Romagnol: papêt m
• Russian: па́пство (ru) n (pápstvo)
• Spanish: papado (es) m
• Swedish: påvedöme (sv) n

the period

• Armenian: պապություն (hy) (paputʻyun)
• Catalan: papat (ca) m, pontificat m
• Dutch: pausdom (nl) n, pontificaat (nl) n
• Galician: papado (gl) m, pontificado m
• German: Pontifikat (de) n
• Hungarian: pápaság (hu)
• Italian: pontificato (it) m
• Māori: popitanga
• Norman: papaûté f
• Polish: pontyfikat (pl) m
• Portuguese: papado (pt) m
• Romagnol: papêt m
• Russian: па́пство (ru) n (pápstvo)
• Spanish: papado (es) m

See also

• (the state of being a father or a father figure): abbacy, fatherness, paternity