pontiff

See also: Pontiff

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pontife, from Latin pontifex. Doublet of pontifex.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒntɪf/

Noun

pontiff (plural pontiffs)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex. [from 17th c.]
2. A bishop of the early Church; now specifically, the Pope. [from 16th c.]
   • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 46:

     In several respects John turned out to be an unexpected figure as supreme pontiff.

3. (figuratively) Any chief figure or leader of a religion. [from 16th c.]

Related terms

• pontificate

Translations

pope

• Catalan: pontífex m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教皇 (zh) (jiàohuáng), 教宗 (zh) (jiàozōng)

• Dutch: paus (nl) m, hogepriester (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉefpastro
• Finnish: pontiff (fi)
• French: pontife (fr) m
• German: Pontifex (de) m

• Italian: pontefice (it)
• Japanese: 教皇 (ja) (きょうおう, kyōō)
• Portuguese: pontífice (pt)
• Romanian: pontif (ro)
• Russian: понти́фик (ru) m (pontífik)
• Slovak: pontifex m
• Spanish: papa (es) m, pontífice (es) m
• Tagalog: pontipise

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ĉefpastro

References

• pontiff at OneLook Dictionary Search.
• pontiff in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “pontiff”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.