Baptismal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or connected with the religious ceremony of administering water to initiate someone into a faith, typically Christianity
2. Pertaining to the rite involving water used to formally incorporate an individual into a religious community, often associated with Christian beliefs
3. Related to the sacramental act of using water to symbolize purification and admission into a religious fellowship, especially within Christianity

Etymology: "Baptismal" is about as transparent as English adjectives get: it is simply "baptism" with the suffix "-al" attached. "Baptism" itself comes from the Greek "baptisma", a word built on "baptizein", meaning to dip or immerse, and the English word already carried the religious sense of the Christian rite before "baptismal" was formed from it. The suffix is the more interesting part of the story. The ending "-al" descends from Latin "-alis", which turned nouns into adjectives meaning "pertaining to" something, and it reached English by a long detour. Latin "-alis" passed into Old French as "-al" and "-el", then arrived in Middle English as "-al", so an English speaker forming "baptismal" was drawing on a suffix that had already crossed several languages.

Synonyms: ceremonial, religious, sacramental, holy, spiritual