English
heretic
Heretic comes from Middle English heretyk.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heretyk
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1503–1512heretic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heretyk
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1503–1512heretic
Earliest quotation: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood: “He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to take, grasp, plunder’
series, service, sort, serve, stream, conservative, desert, hero, insert, reservoir, sermon, assertion, conservatism, exert, concierge, sorcery, observant, servitude, assertive, sorcerer, heresy, sark, conservator, strudel, servile, serf, sere, 34 more
Today it means
noun Someone whose beliefs are contrary to the fundamental tenets of a religion they claim to belong to.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English heretyk / heretic