superstition

See also: supèrstition

English

Etymology

From Middle French superstition, from Latin superstitio (“superstition”), from superstāre (“to stand above, to stand upon, to survive”) +‎ -tiō (“-tion: forming nouns”), from super- (“above, over, upon”) + stāre (“to stand”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌs(j)uː.pə(ɹ)ˈstɪ.ʃən/, /ˌs(j)u.pə(ɹ)ˈstɪ.ʃn̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌs(j)u.pɚˈstɪ.ʃən/, /ˌs(j)u.pɚˈstɪ.ʃn̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

Noun

superstition (countable and uncountable, plural superstitions)

1. (derogatory) A belief considered to be irrational, unfounded, or based solely on fear and ignorance, particularly credulous reverence towards and belief in supernatural forces.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Changes in London”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 229:

     What children we are in trifles! what slight things exercise an influence over us! to how much that our reason would be ashamed to acknowledge! nevertheless does it submit. Our whole nature must change; we must be less susceptible, less dependent on "blind accident," before we can shake off hopes and fears, which are almost superstitions.

   • 1893 January, Paul Carus, “Panpsychism and Panbiotism”, in Monist, volume 3, number 2, page 251:

     The world is not merely the sum of all its atoms... There are no atoms in themselves. Atoms regarded as things in themselves are a scientific superstition.

2. (archaic) Excessive nicety; overscrupulousness.

Derived terms

• sub-superstition
• superstitionist
• superstitionless
• Superstition Mountains

Related terms

• superstitious

Translations

a belief considered irrational, unfounded, or guided by fear and ignorance

• Albanian: supersticion m, besëtytni (sq) f
• Arabic: خُرَافَة (ar) f (ḵurāfa)
• Armenian: սնահավատություն (hy) (snahavatutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: mövhumat, xurafat
• Bashkir: хөрәфәт (xörəfət)
• Basque: sineskeria
• Belarusian: забабо́ны (be) m pl (zababóny)
• Bengali: কুসংস্কার (bn) (kuśoṅskar)
• Bulgarian: суеве́рие (bg) n (suevérie)
• Burmese: အယူသည်းခြင်း (a.yusany:hkrang:)
• Catalan: superstició (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 迷信 (mai⁴ seon³)

  Eastern Min: 迷信 (mì-séng)

  Hokkien: 迷信 (bê-sìn)

  Mandarin: 迷信 (zh) (míxìn)

• Cornish: hegoledh m
• Czech: pověra (cs) f
• Danish: overtro c
• Dutch: bijgeloof (nl) n
• Esperanto: superstiĉo
• Estonian: ebausk
• Finnish: taikausko (fi)
• French: superstition (fr) f
• Galician: superstición (gl) f
• Georgian: ცრურწმენა (crurc̣mena)
• German: Aberglaube (de) m
• Greek: δεισιδαιμονία (el) f (deisidaimonía), πρόληψη (el) f (prólipsi)
• Hebrew: אֱמוּנָה תְּפֵלָה (he) f (emuná t'felá)
• Hindi: अंधविश्वास (hi) m (andhviśvās), ख़ुराफ़त f (xurāfat), खुराफत f (khurāphat), ख़ुराफ़ात f pl (xurāfāt), खुराफात (hi) f pl (khurāphāt)
• Hungarian: babona (hu)
• Icelandic: hjátrú (is) f, hindurvitni (is) n, hégilja f, bábilja f
• Indonesian: takhayul (id), khurafat (id)
• Irish: baothchreideamh m, piseog f (superstititious belief of practice)
• Italian: superstizione (it) f
• Japanese: 迷信 (ja) (めいしん, meishin)
• Kalmyk: йор (yor)
• Kapampangan: ariya
• Kazakh: ырым (yrym), ырымшылдық (yrymşyldyq)
• Khmer: អប្បិយជំនឿ (ʼappeyaʼ cumnɨə)
• Korean: 미신(迷信) (ko) (misin)
• Kyrgyz: ырым-жырым (ky) (ırım-jırım)
• Lao: ຄວາມເຊື່ອໂຊກລາງ (khuām sư̄a sōk lāng)
• Latin: superstitio f
• Latvian: māņticība
• Lithuanian: prietaras m
• Luxembourgish: Awerglawen (lb) m, Awerglaf m
• Macedonian: суеверие n (sueverie)
• Malay: tahyul
• Malayalam: അന്ധവിശ്വാസം (ml) (andhaviśvāsaṁ)
• Maltese: superstizzjoni f
• Māori: whakataputaputanga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: мухар сүсэг (muxar süseg)

• Norman: supèrstition f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overtro m or f

• Occitan: supersticion (oc) f
• Old English: æfgælþ f
• Pashto: خرافات (ps) pl (xerāfāt), موهوم پرستي f (mawhumparastí)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: خُرافِه (fa) (xorâfe), خُرافات (fa) (xorâfât), مُوهومات (fa) (mowhumât)

• Plautdietsch: Äwagloowen m
• Polish: przesąd (pl) m, zabobon (pl) m
• Portuguese: superstição (pt) f
• Romanian: superstiție (ro) f
• Russian: суеве́рие (ru) n (sujevérije), пристра́стие (ru) n (pristrástije), предрассу́док (ru) m (predrassúdok), пове́рье (ru) n (povérʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: saobh-chràbhadh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: празноверје n/празновјерје n, празноверица f/празновјерица f, сујеверје n/сујевјерје n

  Latin: prȁznovjērje (sh) n, praznòvjerica (sh) f, sȕjevjērje (sh) n

• Slovak: povera f
• Slovene: praznoverje n, vraževerje n
• Spanish: superstición (es) f
• Swedish: skrock (sv) n, vidskepelse (sv) c, övertro (sv) c
• Tagalog: pamahiin, erehiya
• Tajik: хурофот (xurofot), мавҳумат (mavhumat)
• Tatar: хорафат (tt) (xorafat)
• Telugu: మూఢ నమ్మకము (mūḍha nammakamu)
• Thai: ไสยศาสตร์ (th) (sǎi-yá-sàat), ไสยเวท, ความเชื่องมงาย, ความเชื่อโชคลาง (kwaam-chʉ̂ʉa-chôok-laang)
• Turkish: batıl inanç (tr), hurafe (tr)
• Turkmen: yrym
• Ukrainian: забобо́н m (zabobón)
• Urdu: خُرافَت f (xurāfat), خُرافات f pl (xurāfāt)
• Uyghur: خۇراپات (xurapat)
• Uzbek: irim (uz), xurofot (uz), irim-chirim (uz)
• Vietnamese: mê tín (vi) (迷信), sự mê tín (vi)
• Volapük: lukred (vo)
• Walloon: doûce creyance (wa) f
• Welsh: ofergoel f

References

• “superstition, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “superstition”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “superstition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin superstitiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.pɛʁ.sti.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

superstition f (plural superstitions)

1. superstition

Related terms

• superstitieux

Further reading

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