Etymology

holier-than-thou

ho·li·er-than-thou

Today it means: Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior. Full definition →

Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ
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The story

  1. Biblical Hebrew · derived fromקְדַשְׁתִּיךָ
  2. English todayholier-than-thou

From Isaiah 65:5 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou”; from Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ (qəḏaštîḵā).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.