idolatry

English

Alternative forms

• idololatry (rare)

Etymology

From Middle English ydolatrie, from Old French idolatrie, from Ecclesiastical Latin īdōlatrīa, from Late Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Ancient Greek εἰδωλολατρίᾱ (eidōlolatríā, “worship of idols”), back-formation from εἰδωλολάτρης (eidōlolátrēs), from εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “idol”) + λάτρις (látris, “worshipper”) or λατρεύω (latreúō, “I worship”), from λάτρον (látron, “payment”). Equivalent to idol +‎ -latry. Cognate with Modern French idolâtrie, Italian idolatria, Occitan ydolatria, Portuguese idolatria, and Spanish idolatría. Displaced native Old English dēofolġield (literally “devil worship”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹiː/
• (US) enPR: ī-dŏ'lə-trē, IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɑ.lə.tɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

idolatry (countable and uncountable, plural idolatries)

1. The worship of idols.

   Synonym: avodah zarah

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     The parish stank of idolatry, abominable rites were practiced in secret, and in all the bounds there was no one had a more evil name for the black traffic than one Alison Sempill, who bode at the Skerburnfoot.

2. The excessive admiration of somebody or something.

   Synonyms: adoration, reverence, worship

Related terms

• idol
• idolater
• idolatrise, idolatrize
• idolatrous
• idolatrously
• -latry

Translations

worship of idols

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: idhujtari (sq) f
• Arabic: وَثَنِيَّة f (waṯaniyya)
• Armenian: կռապաշտություն (hy) (kṙapaštutʻyun)
• Aymara: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: bütpərəstlik (az)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: ідалапакло́нства n (idalapaklónstva), балвахва́льства n (balvaxválʹstva)
• Bengali: মূর্তিপূজা (bn) (murtipuja)
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: идолопокло́нничество n (idolopoklónničestvo), идолопокло́нство n (idolopoklónstvo)
• Catalan: idolatria (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偶像崇拜 (ǒuxiàng chóngbài)

• Cree: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: modlářství, modloslužebnictví n, idolatrie f
• Danish: afgudsdyrkelse c
• Dutch: afgoderij (nl) f, afgodendienst (nl) m, beeldendienst (nl) m, idolatrie (nl) f
• Estonian: ebajumalakummardamine
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: epäjumalanpalvonta, idolatria (fi), kuvainpalvonta
• French: idolâtrie (fr) f, culte des idoles m
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: კერპთაყვანისმცემლობა (ḳerṗtaq̇vanismcemloba), კერპთმსახურება (ḳerṗtmsaxureba)
• German: Abgötterei (de) f, Götzendienerei f, Götzendienst m, Götzenglaube m, Götzenverehrung f, Idolatrie (de) f, Ikonodulie (de) f, Vergötterung (de) f, Bilderanbetung f, Bilderdienst m, Bilderverehrung f
• Greek: ειδωλολατρία (el) f (eidololatría)

  Ancient: εἰδωλολατρία f (eidōlolatría)

• Greenlandic: guutipilussiorneq
• Hebrew: עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה (he) f (avodá zará), עֲבוֹדַת אֱלִילִים (he) f (avodát elilím)
• Hindi: मूर्तिपूजा f (mūrtipūjā)
• Hungarian: bálványimádás (hu)
• Icelandic: skurðgoðadýrkun f
• Irish: íolacht f, íoladhradh m
• Italian: idolatria (it) f
• Japanese: 偶像崇拝 (ぐうぞうすうはい, gūzō sūhai)
• Kazakh: пұтқа табынушылық (pūtqa tabynuşylyq)
• Korean: 우상숭배(偶像崇拜) (usangsungbae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pûtperestî (ku), pûtparêzî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бутпарастык (ky) (butparastık)
• Ladino: avoda zara f, idolatria f
• Latin: īdōlolatrīa f
• Latvian: elku pielūgšana f
• Lithuanian: stabmeldystė f
• Macedonian: идолопоклонство n (idolopoklonstvo)
• Manx: jalloonys m
• Middle English: mawmetrie, ydolatrie
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avgudsdyrkelse m

• Occitan: idolatria (oc) f
• Old English: dēofolġield n
• Pashto: بت پرستي (ps) f (bot-parastī)
• Persian: بت‌پرستی (bot-parasti)
• Plautdietsch: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: bałwochwalstwo (pl) n, idolatria (pl) f, idololatria (pl) f
• Portuguese: idolatria (pt) f
• Romanian: idolatrie (ro) f
• Russian: идолопокло́нство (ru) n (idolopoklónstvo), идолопокло́нничество (ru) n (idolopoklónničestvo)
• Sanskrit: प्रतिमापूजा (sa) f (pratimāpūjā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: идолопокло́нство n

  Roman: idolopoklónstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: modlárstvo n, modloslužobníctvo n, idolatria f, modloslužba f
• Slovene: idolatrija f
• Spanish: idolatría (es) f
• Swedish: idoldyrkan c, idolatri (sv) c, bilddyrkan c
• Tajik: бутпарастӣ (butparasti)
• Telugu: విగ్రహారాధన (te) (vigrahārādhana)
• Thai: การบูชาเทวรูป (gaan-buu-chaa-tee-wá-rûup)
• Turkish: putperestlik (tr)
• Turkmen: butparazlyk (tk)
• Ukrainian: ідолопокло́нство n (idolopoklónstvo), ідолові́рство n (idolovírstvo)
• Urdu: بُت پَرَسْتی f (but-parastī)
• Uyghur: بۇتپەرەسلىك (butpereslik)
• Uzbek: butparastlik (uz)
• Vietnamese: thờ ngẫu tượng
• Welsh: eilun-addoliad m, eilun-addoliaeth f

excessive admiration

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: обожа́ние (bg) n (obožánie)
• Dutch: verafgoding (nl) f, idolatrie (nl) f
• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: ihannointi (fi)
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• German: Vergötterung (de) f, Bewunderung (de) f
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: הערצה (he) f, סגידה (he) f
• Hungarian: bálványozás (hu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: обожување n (obožuvanje), боготворење n (bogotvorenje)
• Middle English: mawmetrie
• Occitan: idolatria (oc)
• Plautdietsch: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: ubóstwianie (pl) n, bałwochwalstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: idolatria (pt) f, veneração (pt) f
• Russian: обожа́ние (ru) n (obožánije), боготворе́ние n (bogotvorénije), поклоне́ние (ru) n (poklonénije), обожествле́ние (ru) n (obožestvlénije)
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• idolatry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• adroitly, dilatory