paynim

[pey-nim]

noun Archaic.

a pagan or heathen.

a Muslim.

pagandom; heathendom.

Origin of paynim

1200–50; Middle English: pagan (noun and adj.), pagan countries, heathendom < Old French pai(e)nime < Late Latin pāgānismus paganism

Related formspay·nim·hood, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for paynim

Historical Examples of paynim

A crusade is a war to recover the Holy Land from the paynim.
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
I allowed if the paynim was satisfied I was, and we would let it stand at that.
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
There were three died in the Holy Land doing battle with the Paynim.
Long Will
Florence Converse
How can we return with all the paynim nations jeering at us, crying, 'See!
God Wills It!
William Stearns Davis
He could not help himself, when the Paynim burnt him: and how can he help us?
Hereward, The Last of the English
Charles Kingsley

British Dictionary definitions for paynim

paynim

noun archaic

a heathen or pagan

a Muslim

Word Origin for paynim

C13: from Old French paienime, from Late Latin pāgānismus paganism, from pāgānus pagan

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for paynim

mid-13c., "heathen lands," from Old French paienime, paienisme "heathen, pagan; Saracen lands or culture or faith," from Late Latin paganismus "heathendom" (Augustine), from paganus "heathen" (see pagan); mistaken meaning "a heathen person" (late 14c., also in Old French) is via phrases such as paynim lands.