Baptism

How to spell baptism

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce baptism

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does baptism mean?

1. nounA Christian ceremony of sprinkling or immersing a person in water as a sign of admission to the faith.

Baptism in a sentence

• The family gathered at the church for the infant's baptism.

• The priest scheduled the baptism for the following Sunday morning.

Where does baptism come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek verb baptizein, which literally meant 'to dip', 'to plunge', or 'to immerse in water', itself built on baptein 'to dip or dye'. From this came the Greek noun baptismos, the act of dipping, which early Christian writers adopted for the ritual washing that marked entry into the faith. Latin took it as baptismus, and it then passed into Old French as baptesme before reaching English in the 1300s, eventually settling into its modern spelling. The original watery sense survives in the imagery of the rite, even though many modern ceremonies use only a sprinkle. That Greek 'p' followed by a 't' is the spelling trap: the cluster looks awkward to English eyes, but it directly preserves the Greek root bapt-, the same element you can spot in 'baptist' and 'baptistry'.

How the word is built

• bapt- (from Greek baptizein: to dip, immerse)
• -ism (noun forming suffix denoting an action or practice)