Hussite

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A follower of Jan Hus, the Czech religious reformer of the 15th century, or an adherent of the movement he founded
2. A member of the religious movement led by Jan Hus that sought reform within the Christian church during the early Renaissance
3. An adherent of the doctrines and reforms promoted by Jan Hus and his followers in medieval Bohemia

Etymology: Jan Hus was a Bohemian preacher and reformer who was burned at the stake in Constance in 1415 for heresy, after condemning clerical abuses and calling for reforms the Church rejected. His followers, the Hussites, fought a series of wars in the early fifteenth century, which is why the name carries such weight in Czech history. The word is a plain formation: the proper name "Hus" plus the suffix "-ite", which English took through French from Latin "-ītes" and ultimately from Greek "-ītēs". That suffix was long used to make names for members of a sect, party or group, as in "Jacobite" for followers of James and "Lutheran"-style names for followers of a leader. "Hussite" thus simply means a follower of Jan Hus, and it is the name the movement's members were given by their opponents rather than a title they chose for themselves.

Synonyms: Hussite follower, Wycliffite