Standard Lemma guide

prophetess

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /pɹɒfɪˈtɛs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P R AA1 F AH0 T AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A female prophet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a woman prophet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: prophet, prophesier, oracle, seer, vaticinator

Narrower terms: Cassandra

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *próder. Ancient Greek πρό (pró) Ancient Greek προ- (pro-) Proto-Indo-European *bheh2-der. Ancient Greek φημί (phēmí) Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs) Ancient Greek προφήτης (prophḗtēs)bor. Latin prophēta Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-ih2der. Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă) Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa)bor. Latin -issa Latin prophētissa Old French prophetessebor. Middle English prophetesse English prophetess From Middle English prophetesse, from Old French prophetesse, from Late Latin prophetissa. By surface analysis, prophet + -ess.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: մարգարեուհի (margareuhi) — female prophet
  • Asturian: profeta — female prophet
  • Belarusian: праро́чыца (praróčyca) — female prophet
  • Bulgarian: проро́чица (proróčica) — female prophet
  • Catalan: profetessa — female prophet
  • Czech: věštkyně — female prophet
  • Czech: prorokyně — female prophet
  • Danish: profetinde — female prophet
  • Esperanto: profetino — female prophet
  • Finnish: naisprofeetta — female prophet
  • Finnish: profeetta — female prophet
  • French: prophétesse — female prophet
  • Galician: profetisa — female prophet
  • German: Prophetin — female prophet
  • German: Weissagerin — female prophet
  • Gothic: 𐍀𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍆𐌴𐍄𐌴𐌹𐍃 (praufēteis) — female prophet
  • Ancient Greek: προφῆτις (prophêtis) — female prophet
  • Hungarian: prófétanő — female prophet
  • Irish: banfháidh — female prophet
  • Irish: fáidhbhean — female prophet
  • Italian: profetessa — female prophet
  • Japanese: 女預言者 (onna yogensha) — female prophet
  • Latin: prophētissa — female prophet
  • Latin: prophētis — female prophet
  • Latin: vāticinātrīx — female prophet
  • Macedonian: проро́чица (proróčica) — female prophet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: profetinne — female prophet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: spåkone — female prophet
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: profetinne — female prophet
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: spåkone — female prophet
  • Polish: prorokini — female prophet
  • Polish: wieszczka — female prophet
  • Portuguese: profetisa — female prophet
  • Romanian: profetă — female prophet
  • Russian: проро́чица (proróčica) — female prophet
  • Russian: предсказа́тельница (predskazátelʹnica) — female prophet
  • Scottish Gaelic: ban-fhàidh — female prophet
  • Serbo-Croatian: пророчица — female prophet
  • Serbo-Croatian: pròročica — female prophet
  • Slovak: prorokyňa — female prophet
  • Slovene: prerokinja — female prophet
  • Spanish: profetisa — female prophet
  • Swedish: profetissa — female prophet
  • Swedish: sierska — female prophet
  • Ukrainian: проро́чиця (proróčycja) — female prophet
  • Volapük: jiprofetan — female prophet
  • Welsh: proffwydes — female prophet
  • Yiddish: נבֿיאה (neviye) — female prophet
Real reading context

prophetess in complete knowledge articles