hierophant

[hahy-er-uh-fant, hahy-ruh-, hahy-er-uh-]

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) an official expounder of rites of worship and sacrifice.

2. any interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric principles; mystagogue.

hierophant

/ ˈhaɪərəˌfænt /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) an official high priest of religious mysteries, esp those of Eleusis

2. a person who interprets and explains esoteric mysteries

Other Word Forms

• hierophantically adverb
• hierophantic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hierophant¹

1670–80; < Late Latin hierophanta < Greek hierophántēs, equivalent to hiero- hiero- + -phántēs, derivative of phaínein to show, make known

Word History and Origins

Origin of hierophant¹

C17: from Late Latin hierophanta, from Greek hierophantēs, from _hiero- + phainein to reveal

Example Sentences

To the delighted worshipers, Cody Goodfellow, here a Most Exalted Hierophant, delivered a sermon that started with growled mentions of “doom-engines, black and red,” “great hammers of the scouring” and so on.

Read more on New York Times

We are moving into the present moment with Instructor No. 5 or the Hierophant.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But a successful heist leads to catastrophic complications when Sancia receives warning that an ancient, impossibly powerful scriver is en route to Tevanne — a hierophant, one of the original creators of their magic technology.

Read more on New York Times

“I’m afraid it looks like Biden’s going to be the Democratic nominee,” St. Evensen said, turning over a Hierophant card.

Read more on The New Yorker

It’s easy to take the trappings of one genre and make some changes, but what ultimately makes Foundryside a great read is that Bennett isn’t just fiddling with the settings — he’s using fantasy to touching on themes like the effects of rampant capitalism, artificial intelligence, and the ethics of technology, all to tell a story that’s pressingly modern and relevant in 2018, and I already can’t to see what he does in the next installment, Hierophant, which comes out August 2019.

Read more on The Verge