devout

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *de

Proto-Italic *dē

Ecclesiastical Latin dē

Ecclesiastical Latin dē-

Proto-Italic *wogʷeō

Ecclesiastical Latin voveō

Ecclesiastical Latin dēvoveō

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tos

Ecclesiastical Latin -tus

Ecclesiastical Latin dēvōtusbor.

Old French devotbor.

Middle English devout

English devout

Inherited from Middle English devout.

From Middle English devout, devot, from Old French devot (French dévot), from Latin dēvōtus, perfect passive participle of dēvōveō. Doublet of devote.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈvaʊt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /dəˈvʌʊt/
• Rhymes: -aʊt

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

devout (comparative devouter or more devout, superlative devoutest or most devout)

1. Devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties; pious; extremely religious; godly.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:2:

     a devout man, and one that feared God

   • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation:

     We must be constant and devout in the worship of our God.

   • 2002, Dru C. Gladney, “Ethnoreligious Resurgence in a Northwestern Sufi Community”, in Susan D. Blum, Lionel M. Jensen, editors, China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom‎, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 109:

     I first became aware of changing Hui-Han social dynamics in the village from a discussion with one of the Han villagers in Team 1. She explained: “Since 1979, we have had less and less social contact with the Hui in the other teams. There are no problems between us, but the Hui are more devout [qian-cheng] now and less willing to come to our homes and visit or borrow tools. We raise pigs in our yards and eat pork, so they are afraid it will influence their religion [yingxiang tamende jiaomen]."

   • 2016 January 25, Dan Merica, “In personal exchange, Clinton laments using faith to ‘judge so harshly’”, in CNN‎:

     The question, which visibly moved Clinton, delves into an area of the candidate’s life that is deeply personal but rarely discussed. Clinton’s friends and confidants describe the former first lady as a devout Methodist whose faith guides much of what she does.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:devout.
2. (archaic) Expressing devotion or piety.

   devout sighs; devout eyes; a devout posture

3. Warmly devoted; hearty; sincere; earnest.

   devout wishes for one's welfare

Derived terms

• devoutful
• devoutless
• devoutly
• devoutness
• indevout
• undevout

Translations

devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties

Arabic: مُتَدَيِّن (mutadayyin) Bengali: আবেদ (bn) (abed) Bulgarian: набожен (bg) (nabožen), благочестив (bg) (blagočestiv) Catalan: devot Chinese: Mandarin: 虔誠的 / 虔诚的 (qiánchéng de), 虔敬的 (qiánjìng de) Czech: nábožný (cs) Danish: from (da) Dutch: vroom (nl) Esperanto: pia (eo) Finnish: harras (fi) Galician: devoto German: tiefgläubig, andächtig (de), strenggläubig (de), fromm (de) Greek: ευσεβής (el) (efsevís) Ancient: εὐσεβής (eusebḗs) Hungarian: vallásos (hu), ájtatos (hu), istenfélő (hu) Irish: urnaitheach, cráifeach, diaganta Italian: devoto (it) Japanese: 敬虔な (ja) (けいけんな, kēken na) Kazakh: ғибадатшыл (ğibadatşyl), тақуа (taqua) Latin: pius (la) Norwegian: from (no) Ottoman Turkish: قانت (kanit) Plautdietsch: fromm Polish: pobożny (pl), nabożny (pl) Portuguese: devoto (pt) Russian: на́божный (ru) (nábožnyj) Sanskrit: यज्यु (sa) (yajyu) Scottish Gaelic: cràbhach Spanish: devoto (es) Tocharian B: kärtse-ṣälype Ukrainian: побо́жний (pobóžnyj), набо́жний (nabóžnyj)

Noun

devout (plural devouts)

1. (obsolete) A devotee.
2. (obsolete) A devotional composition, or part of a composition; a devotion.

References

• “devout”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• devouth, devot, devote, devolte

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *de

Proto-Italic *dē

Ecclesiastical Latin dē

Ecclesiastical Latin dē-

Proto-Italic *wogʷeō

Ecclesiastical Latin voveō

Ecclesiastical Latin dēvoveō

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tos

Ecclesiastical Latin -tus

Ecclesiastical Latin dēvōtusbor.

Old French devotbor.

Middle English devout

Borrowed from Old French devot.

From Old French devot, devout, from Latin dēvōtus (“vowed, promised”).

Adjective

devout

1. devout
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 21–22:

     Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
     To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,

     Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
     To Canterbury, full devout at heart,

2. sacred, holy

Descendants

• English: devout
• Scots: devot, devote, devoit

References

• “dēvǒut, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.