heretic

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Someone whose beliefs are contrary to the fundamental tenets of a religion they claim to belong to.

   He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For fayth in hym is faynte.

From Middle English heretyk, heretike, from Old French eretique, from Medieval Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin haereticus, from Ancient Greek αἱρετικός (hairetikós, “able to choose, factious”), itself from Ancient Greek αἱρέω (hairéō, “to choose”).

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