Proselyte
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 One who has converted to a religion or doctrine, especially a gentile converted to Judaism.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
- 2 a new convert; especially a gentile converted to Judaism wordnet
- 1 To proselytize. transitive
Example
More examples"The same law shall be to him that is born in the land, and to the proselyte that sojourneth with you."
Etymology
From Old French proselite, from Late Latin proselytus (“proselyte, alien resident”), from Ancient Greek προσήλυτος (prosḗlutos, “newcomer, convert”) (from πρός (prós, “to, towards”) and the stem -ηλυ- of ἐλήλυθα (elḗlutha), perfect of ἔρχομαι (érkhomai, “come”)), translation of Hebrew גר (ger) in the Septuagint translation of the Torah (e.g., Exodus 12:49); also used in Matthew 23:15, Acts 2:10, Acts 6:5.
Related phrases
More for "proselyte"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.