# Christianity

Pronunciation: US say "kris-chee-AN-i-tee" /ˌkɹɪst͡ʃiˈænɪti/; UK say "kris-tee-AN-i-tee" /ˌkɹɪstiˈænɪti/

## Proper noun

1. An Abrahamic religion that grew out of the community of the first followers of Jesus Christ.
   - Simple: A major world religion that follows the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
   - _Christianity spread across the Roman Empire within a few centuries of its founding._
   - _She wrote her thesis on the early development of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean._
2. The Christian world as a whole: the lands and peoples that together make up Christendom.
   - Simple: All the Christian people and lands of the world, taken together as one whole.
   - _Medieval Christianity stretched from Spain to the eastern edge of the Byzantine lands._
   - _Word of the king's crusade was welcomed throughout Christianity._
3. Protestantism, as distinct from Catholicism. *(Hong Kong, Philippines)*
   - Simple: Protestant churches, seen as different from the Catholic Church.
   - _He was raised Catholic and only later converted to Christianity, to his relatives' dismay._
   - _Her mission school in Hong Kong taught Christianity, while her cousins attended a Catholic convent school across the harbor._

## Origin

From Middle English Cristiente, borrowed via Old French crestienté from Medieval Latin Chrīstiānitās, ultimately from Latin christianus and Ancient Greek Χριστιανός (Khristianós), based on Χριστός (Khristós, "Christ, anointed one"). The word was later respelled in the early modern English period to better reflect its Latin source.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/christianity (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).