pilgrim
[ pil-grim, -gruh m ]
/ ˈpɪl grɪm, -grəm /
noun
a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion: pilgrims to the Holy Land.
a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.
an original settler in a region.
(initial capital letter) one of the band of Puritans who founded the colony of Plymouth, Mass., in 1620.
a newcomer to a region or place, especially to the western U.S.
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Nearby words
Origin of pilgrim
1150–1200; Middle English pilegrim, pelegrim, cognate with Old Frisian pilegrīm, Middle Low German pelegrīm, Old High German piligrīm, Old Norse pīlagrīmr, all < Medieval Latin pelegrīnus, dissimilated variant of Latin peregrīnus peregrine
Related formspil·gri·mat·ic, pil·gri·mat·i·cal, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for pilgrim
British Dictionary definitions for pilgrim (1 of 2)
pilgrim
/ (ˈpɪlɡrɪm) /
noun
a person who undertakes a journey to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion
any wayfarer
Word Origin for pilgrim
C12: from Provençal pelegrin, from Latin peregrīnus foreign, from per through + ager field, land; see peregrine
British Dictionary definitions for pilgrim (2 of 2)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pilgrim
pilgrim
c.1200, pilegrim, from Old French pelerin, peregrin "pilgrim, crusader; foreigner, stranger" (11c., Modern French pèlerin), from Late Latin pelegrinus, dissimilated from Latin peregrinus "foreigner" (source of Italian pellegrino, Spanish peregrino), from peregre (adv.) "from abroad," from per- "beyond" + agri, locative case of ager "country" (see acre).
Change of first -r- to -l- in most Romance languages by dissimilation; the -m appears to be a Germanic modification. Pilgrim Fathers "English Puritans who founded Plymouth colony" is first found 1799 (they called themselves Pilgrims from c.1630, in reference to Hebrew xi:13).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper