saint
/sɛnt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.41 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A deceased person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Saint (“a Mormon, a Latter-day Saint”).
Example Sentences
- "The Roman Catholic Church proclaimed Kateri Tekakwitha a saint in 2012."
- "Then ſhall thy Saints unmixt, and from th' impure / Farr ſeparate, circling thy holy Mount / Unfained Halleluiahs to thee ſing,"
- "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."
- "Dorothy Day was a living saint."
- "Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!"
- "It is ruine to a man to deuoure ſaintes, and afterward to retracte the vowes."
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 sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancīre (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Doublet of Sanctus. Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English hālga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /sɛnt/
Usage
- Archaic
- Transitive verb
- British usage
Inflected Forms
saints (plural)
St (alternative)
St. (alternative)
saints (present, singular)
sainting (participle, present)
sainted (participle, past)
sainted (past)
the Saint (canonical)
Derived Forms
Phrases
the lists of derived terms at Saint and St
All Saints
blacke-saint
folk saint
fool-saint
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
military saint
narco-saint