Neopagan

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who practices or identifies with contemporary pagan religious movements inspired by ancient beliefs
2. Someone who adheres to modern spiritual paths that revive or recreate pre-Christian rituals and deities
3. An individual engaging in or supporting new religious traditions derived from old polytheistic or nature-based faiths

Etymology: Ancient Greek "neos" meant "new" or "young," and it gave English the prefix "neo-," which has been used for centuries to mark something recent or revived. Attached to "pagan," it creates a word for someone who follows a modern revival of pre-Christian religious traditions rather than the ancient faiths themselves. The base word "pagan" came into English from Late Latin "paganus," meaning "rural dweller" or "villager." Its shift from a word for country folk to a word for non-Christian worshippers is one of the more surprising turns in religious vocabulary, and the neo- form inherits that long history while pointing it in a new direction. The compound is formed plainly: "neo-" joined to "pagan," with the hyphen often dropped in the spelling "neopagan." Its meaning is set entirely by the prefix, so a neopagan is not an ancient pagan but a present-day practitioner who draws on those older traditions.

Synonyms: modern pagan, revivalist