Sacrificers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. One who offers something of value, especially in a religious context, in order to appease a deity or achieve a desired outcome
2. A person who gives up or relinquishes something significant for the sake of a greater cause or for the benefit of others
3. An individual engaged in the act of making offerings or personal sacrifices, often as part of a ritual or spiritual practice

Etymology: Sacrificers is simply the plural of "sacrificer", so it is the form of a noun meaning one who makes a sacrifice. The base word, "sacrifice", came into English through Old French from the Latin "sacrificium", which joins "sacrum", meaning something holy or set apart for the gods, with "facere", to make or do. A sacrifice was thus, at root, the act of making something holy. The agent ending "-er" is the English suffix that turns a verb or noun into a word for a person who performs an action, as in "baker" or "writer". Its ancestor traces back through Middle English, Old English, and the Latin suffix "-arius", which marked a person connected with a thing. "Sacrificer" therefore combines a word for the holy-making act with that long-established personal ending.

Synonyms: offerers, worshippers, devotees