Standard Lemma guide

Protestantism

noun · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɒt.ɪs.tən.tɪ.zəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈpɹɑ.tɪs.tən.tɪ.zəm/
  • General-American: /ˈpɹɑ.tɪs.tən.tɪ.zm̩/
  • CMU ARPABET: P R AA1 T AH0 S T AH0 N T IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The Protestant (rather than the Roman Catholic or Orthodox) Christian faith.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Collectively, the Protestant churches or the Protestants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The beliefs held by the Protestant churches.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the theological system of any of the churches of western Christendom that separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Christianity, Christian religion

Narrower terms: predestinarianism, Anglicanism, Arminianism, Calvinism, Christian Science, Lutheranism, Unitarianism, Trinitarianism, Congregationalism, Mennonitism, evangelicalism, fundamentalism, Methodism, Wesleyanism, Wesleyism, Anabaptism, Baptistic doctrine, Mormonism, pentecostalism, Presbyterianism, Puritanism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English Protestant Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English Protestantism From Protestant + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: protestantizmi — faith
  • Arabic: بُرُوتِسْتَانْتِيَّة (burūtistāntiyya) — faith
  • Armenian: բողոքականություն (boġokʻakanutʻyun) — faith
  • Basque: protestantismo — faith
  • Belarusian: пратэстанцтва (pratestanctva) — faith
  • Bulgarian: протестантство (protestantstvo) — faith
  • Catalan: protestantisme — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 新教 (san1 gaau3) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 基督新教 (gei1 duk1 san1 gaau3) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 抗議宗 /抗议宗 (kong3 ji5 zung1) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 抗羅宗 /抗罗宗 (kong3 lo4 zung1) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 反羅宗 /反罗宗 (faan2 lo4 zung1) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 反對教 /反对教 (faan2 deoi3 gaau3) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 誓反教 (sai6 faan2 gaau3) — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 更正教 — faith
  • Chinese Cantonese: 改新教 (goi2 san1 gaau3) — faith
  • Hakka Chinese: 新教 (Sîn-kau) — faith
  • Hakka Chinese: 基督新教 (Kî-tuk Sîn-kau) — faith
  • Chinese: 新教 (Sin-kàu) — faith
  • Chinese: 更正教 (Keng-chèng-kàu) — faith
  • Chinese: 抗議教 /抗议教 (Khòng-gī-kàu) — faith
  • Chinese: 基督新教 (Ki-tok Sin-kàu) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 新教 (xīnjiào) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 基督新教 (Jīdū xīnjiào) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 抗議宗 /抗议宗 (Kàngyìzōng) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 抗羅宗 /抗罗宗 (Kàngluózōng) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 反羅宗 /反罗宗 (Fǎnluózōng) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 反對教 /反对教 (Fǎnduìjiào) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 誓反教 (Shìfǎnjiào) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 更正教 (Gēngzhèngjiào) — faith
  • Chinese Mandarin: 改新教 (Gǎixīnjiào) — faith
  • Czech: protestantství — faith
  • Danish: protestantisme — faith
  • Dutch: protestantisme — faith
  • Esperanto: protestantismo — faith
  • Estonian: protestantism — faith
  • Finnish: protestanttinen usko — faith
  • Finnish: protestanttisuus — faith
  • French: protestantisme — faith
  • Georgian: პროტესტანტიზმი (ṗroṭesṭanṭizmi) — faith
  • German: Protestantismus — faith
  • Greek: προτεσταντισμός (protestantismós) — faith
  • Hungarian: protestantizmus — faith
  • Icelandic: mótmælendatrú — faith
  • Indonesian: Protestantisme — faith
  • Irish: Protastúnachas — faith
  • Italian: protestantesimo — faith
  • Japanese: 新教 (shinkyō) — faith
  • Japanese: プロテスタンティズム (purotesutantizumu) — faith
  • Kazakh: протестантизм (protestantizm) — faith
  • Kazakh: протестанттық (protestanttyq) — faith
  • Korean: 개신교 (gaesin'gyo) — faith
  • Korean: 프로테스탄트 (peuroteseutanteu) — faith
  • Latin: Protestantes — faith
  • Latvian: protestantisms — faith
  • Lithuanian: protestantizmas — faith
  • Macedonian: протестантизам (protestantizam) — faith
  • Malay: Protestan — faith
  • Marshallese: Būrotijen — faith
  • Norwegian Bokmål: protestantisme — faith
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: protestantisme — faith
  • Persian: پروتستانتیسم (porotestântism) — faith
  • Polish: protestantyzm — faith
  • Portuguese: protestantismo — faith
  • Romanian: protestantism — faith
  • Russian: протеста́нтство (protestántstvo) — faith
  • Serbo-Croatian: протестантизам — faith
  • Serbo-Croatian: protestantizam — faith
  • Slovak: protestantizmus — faith
  • Slovene: protestantizem — faith
  • Spanish: protestantismo — faith
  • Swahili: Uprotestanti — faith
  • Swedish: protestantismen — faith
  • Swedish: protestantism — faith
  • Thai: โปรเตสแตนต์ (bproo-dtées-dtɛ́n) — faith
  • Turkish: Protestanlık — faith
  • Ottoman Turkish: پروتستانلق (prôtîstânlıq) — faith
  • Ottoman Turkish: اعتقاد پروتستانی (i'tiqad protistani) — faith
  • Ukrainian: протестанти́зм (protestantýzm) — faith
  • Vietnamese: Tin Lành — faith
  • Welsh: Protestaniaeth — faith
  • Finnish: protestantit — Protestant churches or the Protestants collectively
  • Marshallese: Būrotijen — Protestant churches or the Protestants collectively
  • Welsh: Protestaniaid — Protestant churches or the Protestants collectively
  • Finnish: protestanttinen usko — beliefs
  • Finnish: protestanttisuus — beliefs
  • Marshallese: Būrotijen — beliefs
  • Welsh: Protestaniaeth — beliefs
Real reading context

Protestantism in complete knowledge articles