Etymology

nonconformist

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Today it means: A member of a church separated from the Church of England; a Protestant dissenter. Full definition →

First used 17th c.English conformist ← Middle English non- ← Old English nān-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. Englishnon-
  14. Englishconform
  15. Englishconformist
  16. English todaynonconformist

From non- + conformist.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. A member of a church separated from the Church of England; a Protestant dissenter.
  • from 17th c. Loosely, a Christian who does not conform to the doctrines of an established church.
  • from 17th c. Someone who does not conform to accepted beliefs, customs or practices.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.