Atheist

How to spell atheist

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce atheist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does atheist mean?

1. nounA person who does not believe in the existence of any god or gods.

Atheist in a sentence

• As a committed atheist, she never attended the church services her family planned.

• The survey asked whether each respondent identified as religious, agnostic, or atheist.

Where does atheist come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek atheos, which literally meant 'without a god' or 'godless', built from the negative prefix a- ('not, without') and theos ('god'). In ancient usage atheos could be a harsh insult, applied to people who rejected the recognised gods of the city. The term passed through the French athéiste and the Latin atheos before settling into English in the late 1500s, when religious debate made a label for non-believers useful. The same theos root still powers a family of English words such as 'theology', 'theism', and 'pantheon', and noticing that shared 'the' element is a handy way to fix the spelling. The classic trap is the unstressed middle: it is 'a-the-ist', so the 'e' belongs to the 'the' part and the ending is '-ist', never '-est'.

How the word is built

• a- (without, not)
• the- (from Greek theos: god)
• -ist (one who holds a belief)