Etymograph

English

saint

Saint comes from Middle English saint, from Old French saint and Old English sanct, from Latin sānctus ‘holy’, from sanciō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanciō1as sancīre, past participle‘to render sacred’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānctus1‘holy; (Late Latin) a saint’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400saint1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saint1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1610saint1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English saint
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, Doway: Laurence Kellam: “It is ruine to a man to deuoure ſaintes,…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanciōWiktionary, English saintas sancīre, past participle‘to render sacred’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānctusWiktionary, English saint‘holy; (Late Latin) a saint’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400saintWiktionary, English saint
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saintWiktionary, English saint
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1610saintWiktionary, English saint. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, Doway: Laurence Kellam: “It is ruine to a man to deuoure ſaintes,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- ‘to sanctify, to make a treaty’

consecration, sacrilege, consecrate, sacramental, 10 more

through Latin sanciō ‘to render sacred, make holy’

sanction

through Latin sānctus ‘holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun,…’

sanctuary, sanctity, santo, sanctum, sanctification, 4 more

Another origin of saint

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sanktosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanctus‘venerable, august, divine, blessed, holy, saintly’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400seint
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seyntas seint‘a saint’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400saintir
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saynten
  7. Englishtodaysaint

Today it means

noun A deceased person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “saint”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin sanciō / saint

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