neophyte

plural neophytes

1. A beginner; a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.

   In this scene Lupita, the neophyte, is counselled by more weathered professionals about the rules and regulations of whoring.

   1980, Journal of Spanish Studies: twentieth century, volume 8, Kansas State University, page 95

   4 more examples

   A convert's enthusiasm for his new religion is greater than that of a person who is born in it. Vegetarianism was then a new cult in England, and likewise for me, because, as we have seen, I had gone there a convinced meat-eater, and was intellectually converted to vegetarianism later. Full of the neophyte's zeal for vegetarianism, I decided to start a vegetarian club in my locality, Bayswater.

   1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVII, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC

   […]everyone has to own the floors of whoever you vote for, whether they are a lying handsy narcissistic sociopath[…] or a conspiracy-pandering political neophyte with no clear understanding of how government operates and who once recorded this folk rap about the virtues of bicycling.

   2016 October 16, “Third Parties”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 26, spoken by John Oliver, via HBO

   The big story on Tuesday night was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – the 28-year-old political neophyte who pulled off the upset of the 2018 election in New York’s 14th district.

   2018 June 28, Chris Cillizza, “The Democrats’ lost generation”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Sep 2018

   The purpose of sharing these accounts – particularly during Women’s History Month – is to show that women, like men, can grow from bumbling neophytes to competent leaders.

   2019 March 17, Swanee Hunt, “My career: From bumbling neophyte to pioneering diplomat”, in CNN, archived from the original on 16 May 2024

   Synonyms: beginner, newbie, newcomer, starter, novice, rookie, tyro, abecedarian · Antonyms: expert, veteran, master

2. A novice (recent convert); a new convert or proselyte; a new monk.

   The neophyte was given a new name in place of the baptismal one, usually of an evil and revolting character, and this was written in blood in the Devil's book, the covers of which were bound in the skin of unbaptised infants.

   1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 107

   Synonyms: novice, proselyte, initiate

3. ChristianityAmong the early Christians, and still among the Roman Catholics, one who has recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, especially those converts from heathenism or Judaism.
4. biologyA plant species recently introduced to an area (in contrast to archaeophyte, a long-established introduced species).

   Antonyms: archaeophyte