Gentile
pronunciation
How to pronounce Gentile in British English:
UK 
How to pronounce Gentile in American English:
US
-
- Noun:
- a person who does not acknowledge your God
-
- Adjective:
- belonging to or characteristic of non-Jewish peoples
Word Origin
- gentile (n.)
- "one who is not a Jew," c. 1400; earlier "one who is not a Christian, a pagan" (late 14c.), from Late Latin noun use of Latin gentilis "of the same family or clan, of or belonging to a Roman gens," from gens (genitive gentis) "race, clan" (see genus, and compare gentle). The Latin adjective also meant "of or belonging to the same nation," hence, as a noun, gentiles (plural) might mean "men of family; persons belonging to the same family; fellow countrymen, kinsmen," but also "foreigners, barbarians" (as opposed to Romans), those bound only by the Jus Gentium, the "law of nations," defined as "the law that natural reason establishes among all mankind and is followed by all peoples alike." The Latin word then was used in the Vulgate to translate Greek ethnikos (see ethnic), from ta ethne "the nations," which translated Hebrew ha goyim "the (non-Jewish) nations" (see goy). Hence in Late Latin, after the Christianization of Rome, gentilis also could mean "pagans, heathens," as opposed to Christians. Based on Scripture, gentile also was used by Mormons (1847) and Shakers (1857) to refer to those not of their profession.
Example
- 1. The archive also illustrates the tension that exists between the jewish and gentile experience of the war in poland .
- 2. As a doctor 's daughter , she had been brought up in a house that was open to anyone in pain or need , jew or gentile .
- 3. In short , the end of the gentile constitution was approaching .
- 4. Let us now see what had become of the gentile constitution in this social upheaval .
- 5. Such organs had therefore to be formed outside the gentile constitution , alongside of it , and hence in opposition to it .