superstition

See also: supèrstition

English

Etymology

From Middle French superstition, from Latin superstitio.

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. A belief or beliefs, not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, that events may be influenced by one's behaviour in some magical or mystical way.
   • 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.

2. (archaic) Excessive nicety; overscrupulousness.

Derived terms

• sub-superstition
• superstitionist
• superstitionless
• Superstition Mountains

 

Related terms

• superstitious

Translations

a belief that events may be influenced by one's behaviour in some magical or mystical way

• 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:

  Mandarin: 迷信 (zh) (míxìn)

• Cornish: hegoledh m
• Czech: pověra (cs) f
• Danish: overtro
• 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)
• Hebrew: אֱמוּנָה תְּפֵלָה (he) f (emuná t'felá)
• Hindi: अंधविश्वास (hi) m (andhviśvās)
• 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 (ʼɑɑpbəycumnɨə)
• Korean: 미신(迷信) (ko) (misin)
• Kyrgyz: ырым-жырым (ky) (ırım-jırım)
• Latin: superstitio f
• Latvian: māņticība
• Lithuanian: prietaras m
• Luxembourgish: Awerglawen (lb) m, Awerglaf m
• Macedonian: суеверие n (sueverie)
• Malayalam: അന്ധവിശ്വാസം (ml) (andhaviśvāsaṁ)
• Maltese: superstizzjoni f
• Maori: whakataputaputanga
• Mongolian: мухар сүсэг (muxar süseg)
• Norman: supèrstition f
• Norwegian: overtro
• Occitan: supersticion (oc) f
• Old English: æfgælþ f
• Pashto: خرافات (ps) pl (xerāfāt), موهوم پرستي f (mawhumparastí)
• Persian: خرافه (fa) (xorâfe), موهومات (fa) (mowhumât), خرافات (fa) (xorâfât)
• 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

  Roman: 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)
• Thai: ไสยศาสตร์ (th) (sǎi-yá-sàat), ไสยเวท, ความเชื่องมงาย, ความเชื่อโชคลาง
• Turkish: batıl inanç (tr), hurafe (tr)
• Turkmen: yrym
• Ukrainian: забобо́н m (zabobón)
• Urdu: خرافت f (xurāfat)
• 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”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “superstition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin superstitiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.pɛʁ.sti.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (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.