/ˈeɪ.θi.ɪst/·noun·c. 1571 CE, in John Sandford's translation of Agrippa·Established
Origin
From Greek atheos ('without god'), formed with the privative prefix a- and theos ('god', from PIE *dʰeh₁s), borrowed via French athéiste into English c.1571 — originally a civic accusation in Athens, a term of abuse through the Reformation, and only gradually reclaimed as a neutral self-descriptor during the Enlightenment.
Definition
A person who disbelieves in or denies the existence of God or any gods.
The Full Story
Greek5th century BCEwell-attested
The word 'atheist' derives from Greek ἄθεος (atheos), a compound of the privative prefix ἀ- (a-, 'without, not') and θεός (theos, 'god'). The Greek term ἄθεος appears as early as the 5th century BCE and was used pejoratively to describe those who denied or failed to acknowledge the gods of the polis — not necessarily someone who denied the existence of all divine beings, but one who was 'godless' in a civic or moral sense. Socrates was famously accused of being ἄθεος in 399 BCE, though this charge carried the sense of impiety toward civic religion rather than philosophical denial of deity. The abstractnoun
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When Socrates was tried in Athens in 399 BCE, one charge was essentially that he was atheos — not acknowledging the city's gods. Yet the accusation had nothing to do with philosophical denial of existence; it meant failing in religious duty to the polis. For most of its history 'atheist' was an insult applied to Christians by pagans, to heretics by orthodox believers, and to freethinkers by the establishment — virtually no one used it about themselves until the late 18th century, when d'Holbach became one of the first intellectuals to openly claim it.
(from Greek enthousiasmos, 'divine inspiration'), and Theodore (gift of god). The semantic shift in English moved from 'one impious toward gods' to its modern philosophical meaning of 'one who denies the existence of God or gods' across the 16th–18th centuries, solidified during the Enlightenment. Key roots: *n̥- (Proto-Indo-European: "negation prefix 'not, un-'; zero-grade of negative particle *ne"), *dʰeh₁s- (Proto-Indo-European: "sacred, divine; related to concepts of holiness and the sacred sphere"), ἀ- (a-) (Ancient Greek: "privative prefix: without, lacking, not"), θεός (theos) (Ancient Greek: "god, deity; source of theology, theocracy, enthusiasm, apotheosis").