Etymology

Pharisee

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Today it means: A member of an ancient Jewish political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era (536 B.C.E.–70 C.E.). The movement was ultimately the basis for most contemporary forms of Judaism. Full definition →

Latin Pharisaeus ← Ancient Greek Φαρισαῖος ← Aramaic פְּרִישַׁיָּא
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The story

  1. Aramaic · derived fromפְּרִישַׁיָּא
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromΦαρισαῖος
  3. Latin · derived fromPharisaeus
  4. English todayPharisee

From Latin Pharisaeus, from Ancient Greek Φαρισαῖος (Pharisaîos), a transliteration of Aramaic פְּרִישַׁיָּא (pərîšayyâ’), emphatic plural of פְּרִישׁ (pərîš, “separatist”, literally “separated”), related to Hebrew פרוש (parush), qal passive participle of the verb פָּרַשׁ (pāraš), meaning one who is separated for a life of purity.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.