saint

See also: Saint and SA Int

English

Etymology

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sanctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancire (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɪnt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -eɪnt
• (UK, as an unstressed, capitalised title) IPA^(key): /sən(t)/, /sɨn(t)/

Noun

Francis of Assisi, a Catholic saint.

saint (plural saints)

1. A person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

   Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed a saint.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 1:2:

     Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Iesus, called to be Saints, with all that in euery place call vpon the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

2. (figuratively, by extension) A person with positive qualities; one who does good.

   Dorothy Day was a living saint.

   Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!

3. One of the blessed in heaven.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 742–744:

     Then ſhall thy Saints unmixt, and from th' impure
     Farr ſeparate, circling thy holy Mount
     Unfained Halleluiahs to thee ſing,

4. (archaic) A holy object.
   • 1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Proverbes 20:25, page 299:

     It is ruine to a man to deuoure ſaintes, and afterward to retracte the vowes.

Synonyms

• (holy person): hallow (obsolete)

Derived terms

• saintdom
• saintess
• saintful
• sainthead
• sainthood
• saintish
• saintism
• saintless
• saintlike
• saintly
• saintship

 

Translations

person proclaimed as saint

• Albanian: shenjtor (sq) m, shën m
• Arabic: قِدِّيس m (qiddīs), قِدِّيسَة f (qiddīsa)
• Armenian: սուրբ (hy) (surb)
• Aromanian: sãntu m, sãmtu m, ayiu
• Asturian: santu m, santa f
• Bashkir: әүлиә (əwliə) (in Islam)
• Belarusian: святы́ m (svjatý), свята́я f (svjatája)
• Bulgarian: светец (bg) (svetec)
• Catalan: sant (ca) m, santa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 聖人／圣人 (sing³ jan⁴), 圣人 (sing³ jan⁴), 聖徒／圣徒 (sing³ tou⁴), 圣徒 (sing³ tou⁴)

  Mandarin: 聖人／圣人 (zh) (shèngrén), 圣人 (zh) (shèngrén), 聖徒／圣徒 (zh) (shèngtú), 圣徒 (zh) (shèngtú)

  Min Nan: 聖人／圣人 (zh-min-nan), 圣人 (zh-min-nan) (sèng-jîn, sèng-lîn)

• Czech: svatý (cs) m, svatá f
• Dalmatian: suant m
• Danish: helgen c
• Dutch: heilige (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: (♂♀) sanktulo, (♂) virsanktulo, (neologism, ♂) sanktuliĉo, (♂♀) sanktulino
• Finnish: pyhimys (fi)
• French: saint (fr) m, sainte (fr) f

  Middle French: sainct m

  Old French: saint m, seint m

• Friulian: sant m
• Galician: santo m, santa f
• Georgian: წმინდანი (c̣mindani)
• German: Heiliger (de) m, Heilige (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἅγιος m (hágios)

  Modern Greek: άγιος (el) m (ágios), αγία (el) f (agía)

• Hungarian: szent (hu)
• Icelandic: dýrlingur (is) m
• Indonesian: santo (id) m, santa (id) f
• Irish: naomh m
• Italian: santo (it) m, santa (it) f
• Japanese: 聖人 (せいじん, seijin)
• Korean: 성인 (ko) (seong'in)
• Lao: ນັກບຸນ (nak bun)
• Latgalian: svāts m, svāta f, svātlelyskys m
• Latin: sānctus (la) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: svēts (lv) m, svēta f
• Lithuanian: šventasis m, šventoji f
• Luxembourgish: Hellegen m
• Macedonian: светец m (svetec), светица f (svetica)
• Malay: wali, santo
• Maori: hato
• Norman: saint m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helgen (no) m, sankt

  Nynorsk: helgen (no) m

• Occitan: sant (oc) m
• Old English: hālga m, sanct m
• Old Occitan: saint
• Persian: مقدس (fa) (moqaddas), قدیس (fa) (qeddis), سن (fa) (san), سنتا (santâ)
• Polish: święty (pl) m, święta (pl) f
• Portuguese: santo (pt) m, santa (pt) f
• Romanian: sfânt (ro) m, sfântă (ro) f, sânt (ro) m (popular), sântă f (popular)
• Romansch: sontg m, sogn n, son m, sench m, sonch m
• Russian: свято́й (ru) m (svjatój), свята́я (ru) f (svjatája)
• Sardinian: santu m
• Scottish Gaelic: naomh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: светац m

  Roman: svetac (sh) m, svetica (sh) f, svet (sh) m, sveto n, sveta f

• Sicilian: santu (scn) m
• Slovak: svätý m, svätá f
• Slovene: svetnik (sl) m, svetnica f
• Spanish: santo (es) m, santa (es) f
• Swahili: mtakatifu (sw)
• Swedish: helgon (sv)
• Tagalog: santo (tl)
• Tajik: муқаддас (tg) (muqaddas)
• Thai: นักบุญ (th) (nák-bun), วิสุทธิชน
• Ukrainian: святи́й m (svjatýj), свята́ f (svjatá)
• Urdu: مقدس (ur) m (muqadas), مقدسہ (ur) f (muqaddasa), بزرگ, ولی m (valī), ولیہ f (valīyā)
• Venetian: santo m
• Vietnamese: thánh (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) saludan (vo), (♂) hisaludan (vo), (♀) jisaludan (vo)

(figuratively) a person with positive qualities

• Armenian: սուրբ (hy) (surb)
• Catalan: sant (ca) m
• Czech: světec (cs) m
• Danish: helgen c
• Dutch: heilige (nl) m or f
• Finnish: pyhimys (fi)
• French: saint (fr) m, sainte (fr) f
• Galician: santo m
• German: Heilige (de) f
• Greek: άγιος (el) m (ágios), αγία (el) f (agía)
• Hungarian: szent (hu)
• Irish: naomh
• Italian: santo (it) m, santa (it) f
• Macedonian: светец m (svetec), светица f (svetica)
• Maltese: san m, santu m, santa f
• Maori: ahurangi
• Norman: saint m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helgen (no) m

  Nynorsk: helgen m

• Portuguese: santo (pt) m, santa (pt) f
• Romanian: sfânt (ro) m, sfântă (ro) f, sânt (ro) m
• Russian: свято́й (ru) m (svjatój), свята́я (ru) f (svjatája)
• Scottish Gaelic: naomh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: светац m

  Roman: svetac (sh) m, svetica (sh) f, svet (sh) m, sveto n, sveta f

• Slovene: svetnik (sl) m, svetnica f
• Spanish: santo (es) m, santa (es) f
• Swedish: helgon (sv) n
• Thai: นักบุญ (th) (nák-bun), วิสุทธิชน
• Vietnamese: vị thánh (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) saludan (vo), (♂) hisaludan (vo), (♀) jisaludan (vo)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} წმინდანი (c̣mindani)
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} san m, ^{(please verify)} santu m, ^{(please verify)} santa f
• (deprecated template usage) Old English: sanct m, before a proper name, sanctus m, sancta f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Slovak: 1, 2: svätec m, svätica f; 3: adj svätý
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} sveti m, ^{(please verify)} sveta f

See also

• hallow
• holos
• holy

Verb

saint (third-person singular simple present saints, present participle sainting, simple past and past participle sainted)

1. (transitive) To canonize, to formally recognize someone as a saint.

   Many wish to see Pope John Paul II sainted immediately.

Translations

formally recognize as a saint

• Danish: kanonisere
• Dutch: heiligverklaren
• Italian: canonizzare (it), santificare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: kanonisere
• Scottish Gaelic: naomhaich
• Vietnamese: tuyên thánh, phong thánh

Further reading

• “saint”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “saint”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Astin, Insta, Santi, Sinta, Tanis, Tians, antis, insta-, sat in, satin, stain, stian, tians, tisan

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sanctus (“holy”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ̃
• Homophones: sain, sains, saints, sein, seing, seings, seins

Noun

saint m (plural saints, feminine sainte)

1. saint

Adjective

saint (feminine sainte, masculine plural saints, feminine plural saintes)

1. saintly (all meanings)

Further reading

• “saint”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tians

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Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

saint f (genitive singular sainte)

1. greed, avarice, covetousness
2. great eagerness, desire

Declension

Declension of saint

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun) Case Singular Nominative saint Vocative a shaint Genitive sainte Dative saint

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an tsaint Genitive na sainte Dative leis an tsaint don tsaint

Synonyms

• cíocras, gabhálacht (“avarice”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
saint	shaint after an, tsaint	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Norman

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French saint, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sanctus (“holy”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Adjective

saint m

1. (Jersey) holy

Noun

saint m (plural saints)

1. (Jersey, religion) saint

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Old French

Alternative forms

• sanct (rare)
• saent (rare)
• seint (common, chiefly Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sanctus

Noun

saint oblique singular, m (oblique plural sainz or saintz, nominative singular sainz or saintz, nominative plural saint)

1. saint

Declension

  Declension of saint  

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	Subject	sainz	sainte
	Oblique	saint	sainte
Plural	Subject	saint	saintes
	Oblique	sainz	saintes

Adjective

saint m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sainte)

1. holy
   • circa 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence la vie de Sainte Elyzabel, fille au roi de Hongrie:

     Conment hom devoit Dieu servir
     Por saint Paradix deservir

     How man should serve God
     In order to deserve Heaven

2. pious; devout

Descendants

• → English: saint
• French: saint
• Norman: saint (Jersey)

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Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sai̯nt/

Noun

saint m pl

1. plural of sant