Methodist

How to spell methodist

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce methodist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does methodist mean?

1. nounA member of a Protestant Christian denomination founded on the teachings of John Wesley.

Methodist in a sentence

• Her grandfather was a lifelong methodist who never missed a Sunday service.

• The village chapel served the local methodist community for over a century.

Where does methodist come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek methodos, which literally meant 'a following after' or 'a way of pursuit', built from meta ('after') and hodos ('road, way'); it described an orderly, systematic way of investigating something. Latin took it up as methodus, and by the 1500s English had 'method' for any regular, organised procedure. The religious sense arose at Oxford in the 1720s and 1730s, when John and Charles Wesley led a small group whose strict, methodical routine of study, prayer, and devotion earned them the mocking nickname 'Methodists'. The label stuck and became the proud name of the worldwide Methodist movement. The spelling keeps the Greek 'th' and the unstressed second vowel, the same trap that catches writers of 'method' itself.

How the word is built

• method- (from Greek methodos: a way of inquiry, a systematic pursuit)
• -ist (one who follows)