Meanings
jacobin1
plural jacobins
- Alternative letter-case form of Jacobin.
- A domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) with reversed feathers on its neck.
Synonyms: Jacobin, Jacobin pigeon, jacobin pigeon, jacobine, jacobine pigeon
- Any hummingbird of the genus Florisuga.
Jacobin2
plural Jacobins
- historicalA member of the Jacobin Club, a radical political club prominent during the French Revolution.
The Jacobins acted as a left-of-centre parliamentary pressure group, spending much of their time in coordinating the following day's business in the Assembly.
2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, pages 429–30 - broadlyhistoricalA sympathizer or supposed sympathizer with the French political club or its aims of democracy and social equality.
- historicalnot comparableOf or related to the Jacobin Club in France.
Synonyms: Jacobinic, Jacobinical
- broadlynot comparableOf or related to the radical left in other contexts.
[…] Mosse argued the most fascist and totalitarian in particular but also radical Jacobin regimes, continued to have an investment in not merely disciplining human bodies but harnessing their sense of glory toward worshiping themselves […]
2015, Matthew Quest, "George L. Mosse: Unconventional Historian", New Historian - datednot comparableChristianitySynonym of Dominican, of or related to the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter.
Synonyms: Dominican, of or related to the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter
- archaicnot comparableChristianitySynonym of Jacobite, of or related to the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Synonyms: Jacobite, of or related to the Syriac Orthodox Church
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) with reversed feathers on its neck.
nounSynonym of Dominican, a member of the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter.
nounSynonym of Jacobite, a member of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
adjectiveOf or related to the Jacobin Club in France.
adjectiveSynonym of Dominican, of or related to the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter.
adjectiveSynonym of Jacobite, of or related to the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Origin
jacobin · noun
- Frenchsoupe à la Jacobine
- Frenchjacobine
- Englishjacobin
From Jacobin, q.v. In reference to birds, via French jacobine, from a supposed resemblance to the Dominicans' formerly standard hood or coloring. In reference to soup, via French soupe à la Jacobine.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Jacobin · noun, adjective
- Biblical Hebrewיַעֲקֹב
- Ancient GreekἸάκωβος
- LatinJācōbus“James, Jacob, etc.”
- LatinJācōbīnus
- Old Frenchjacobin
- Middle EnglishJacobin
- EnglishJacobin
From Middle English Jacobin, from Old French jacobin, from Latin Jācōbīnus, from Latin Jācōbus (“James, Jacob, etc.”) + -īnus (“-ine: forming adjectives”), from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Ya'akóv), q.v. In reference to the Dominican Order, from the proximity of their 1218 chapel and chapter house in Paris to the city's Porte Saint-Jacques, whose road formed an extension of the Way of St. James running to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In reference to the Jacobin Club, from its 1789 founding at the former Dominican convent. In reference to the Syrian church, from Jacob bar Addai, bishop of Edessa during the mid-6th century.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Danish parykdue
- parykduebreed of domestic pigeon
French jacobin
- jacobinbreed of domestic pigeon
German Perückentaube, Perückentauber
- Perückentaubebreed of domestic pigeon
- Perückentauberbreed of domestic pigeon
- Perückentäuberbreed of domestic pigeon
- Perückentauberichbreed of domestic pigeon
- Perückentäuberichbreed of domestic pigeon
- Perückentäubinbreed of domestic pigeon
Italian colombo cappuccino, colombo cappuccio
- colombo cappuccinobreed of domestic pigeon
- colombo cappucciobreed of domestic pigeon
Norwegian Bokmål parykkdue
- parykkduebreed of domestic pigeon
Cite this entry
jacobin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jacobin
“jacobin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jacobin. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jacobin,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jacobin.
Source: jacobin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.