# saint

Pronunciation: US say "SAYNT" /seɪnt/; UK say "SUHNT" /sən(t)/

## Noun

1. A person recognized or revered as especially holy, most often one officially declared so by a Christian church; also, any of the blessed souls believed to be with God in heaven.
   - Simple: A very holy person honored by a church or religion, or anyone believed to be with God in heaven.
   - _Pilgrims travel for miles to visit the tomb of their favorite saint._
   - _The bishop argued that the martyred nun should be recognized as a saint._
3. A person of exceptional goodness and patience; someone who consistently does good for others.
   - Simple: A very kind, good person who always helps others and rarely seems to do anything wrong.
   - _Anyone who volunteers at the shelter every weekend is a saint in my book._
   - _She's a saint for putting up with his constant complaints without losing her temper._
4. A Christian believer; one of the faithful living in the present world.
   - Simple: A Christian who is still alive and truly believes in and follows God.
   - _Members of the small congregation still greet one another as saints, following the language of the New Testament._
   - _He reminded the congregation that every faithful saint shares the same calling._
5. A Latter-day Saint, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often called a Mormon); usually capitalized, as Saint.
   - Simple: A member of the Latter-day Saint church, often called a Mormon. It is usually capitalized, as Saint.
   - _When he joined the Mormon church, the local saints brought meals to his family for a month._
   - _As a lifelong saint, she has kept the Word of Wisdom and never touched a cup of coffee._
8. A title, written with a capital letter, that goes before the name of someone recognized as a saint and is often shortened to St.
   - Simple: A title with a capital S that goes before a saint's name, often written as St.
   - _The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Peter, whose statue stands above the main door._
   - _Every summer, thousands of pilgrims walk the old road to the shrine of Saint James._

## Prefix

2. Used capitalized before another term, especially a personal name, to form a place name with no direct religious meaning.
   - Simple: Put before a name to make a place name, without meaning the place is holy.
   - _Saint Louis grew rapidly as a river port in the nineteenth century._
   - _They bought a cottage near Saint Ives for the summer._

## Verb

6. To formally name or honor someone as a saint; to revere a person as holy.
   - Simple: To officially make someone a saint, or to treat a person as one.
   - _Rome did not saint her until centuries after her death._
   - _Critics warned against the rush to saint every fallen soldier._

## Noun

7. A holy or sacred object. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A holy object that people respect and treat as sacred.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–5, 7–8** — From Middle English "saint," partly from Old English "sanct" and merging with Old French "saint," both from Latin "sānctus" ("holy, consecrated"), which in Late Latin became a noun meaning "a saint." This came from "sancīre" ("to make holy"), akin to "sacer" ("sacred"), and it displaced the native English word "halwe."
**Meaning 6** — Middle English "saynten," which gave the verb, drew partly on the Middle English noun "seint" ("saint") and partly on Anglo-Norman "saintir."
**Meaning 2** — Many parishes and other places were named after Christian saints, and this sense comes from that habit.

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