original sin

noun

Adam's disobedience to God, beginning with his eating of the forbidden fruit, often depicted as an apple.

Opposite

Meanings

nounoriginal sin (countable and uncountable, plural original sins)

plural original sins

  1. countableuncountableChristianityAdam's disobedience to God, beginning with his eating of the forbidden fruit, often depicted as an apple.
  2. countableuncountableChristianityThe state of sinfulness, present in each human from birth, which is a result of Adam's disobedience.

    I vvas baptized in thy Cordiall vvater, againſt Original ſinne, and I haue drunke of thy Cordiall Blood, for my recouerie, from actuall, and habituall ſinne, in the other Sacrament.

    1624, John Donne, “11. Prayer.”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, pages 280–281
    1 more example

    You have to give director Colm McCarthy, a Scottish TV veteran making his feature film debut, and writer Mike Carey, adapting his own novel, credit for attempting the seemingly impossible task of doing something new with the zombie subgenre. And by blending it with the common YA trope of a young female protagonist who leads the world into a new revolutionary era, they almost get there—largely thanks to newcomer Nanua, who presents her character’s grappling with complex themes of identity and original sin with a childlike guilelessness.

    2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2017
  3. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe misdeed partially or entirely responsible for all of the similar ones after it.

    The dim-wits hardly realize that they come pretty close to accusing God of advocating ritual murder, when they use the Biblical story to prove the “original sin” of the Jews.

    1970, Morris Kominsky, chapter II, in The Hoaxers: Plain Liars, Fancy Liars, and Damned Liars, volume I, Boston: Branden Press, Inc., 8283-1288-5, page 191

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna sin said to be inherited by all descendants of Adam

Opposite
Broader
sinsinningreligious doctrinechurch doctrinegospel

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinpeccātum orīgināle
  2. Englishoriginal sin

Calque of Latin peccātum orīgināle, a phrase used by 4th-century Berber theologian and saint Augustine of Hippo in his interpretations of the Bible.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek προπατορικὸν ἁμάρτημα
  • προπατορικὸν ἁμάρτημα (propatorikòn hamártēma)state of sinfulness in each human
Arabic اَلْخَطِيئَة اَلْأَصْلِيَّة
  • اَلْخَطِيئَة اَلْأَصْلِيَّة (al-ḵaṭīʔa l-ʔaṣliyya)state of sinfulness in each human
Catalan pecat original
  • pecat originalstate of sinfulness in each human
Chinese Mandarin 原罪
  • 原罪 (yuánzuì)state of sinfulness in each human
Czech prvotní hřích
  • prvotní hříchstate of sinfulness in each human
Danish arvesynd, arvesynd
  • arvesyndstate of sinfulness in each human
  • arvesyndAdam's disobedience
Dutch erfzonde
  • erfzondestate of sinfulness in each human
Finnish perisynti, perisynti
  • perisyntistate of sinfulness in each human
  • perisyntiAdam's disobedience
French péché originel, péché originel
  • péché originelstate of sinfulness in each human
  • péché originelAdam's disobedience
German Erbsünde, Ursünde
  • Erbsündestate of sinfulness in each human
  • Ursündestate of sinfulness in each human
  • UrsündeAdam's disobedience
  • ErbsündeAdam's disobedience
Greek προπατορικό αμάρτημα
  • προπατορικό αμάρτημα (propatorikó amártima)state of sinfulness in each human
Hebrew הַחֵטְא הַקַּדְמוֹן
  • הַחֵטְא הַקַּדְמוֹןstate of sinfulness in each human
Icelandic erfðasynd, erfðasynd
  • erfðasyndstate of sinfulness in each human
  • erfðasyndAdam's disobedience
Indonesian dosa asal
  • dosa asalstate of sinfulness in each human
Irish peaca an tsinsir
  • peaca an tsinsirstate of sinfulness in each human
Italian peccato originale, peccato originale
  • peccato originalestate of sinfulness in each human
  • peccato originaleAdam's disobedience
Japanese 原罪
  • 原罪 (genzai)state of sinfulness in each human
Latin peccātum orīgināle, peccātum orīgināle
  • peccātum orīginālestate of sinfulness in each human
  • peccātum orīgināleAdam's disobedience
Latvian iedzimtais grēks
  • iedzimtais grēksstate of sinfulness in each human
Malay dosa asal
  • dosa asalstate of sinfulness in each human
Norwegian Bokmål arvesynd
  • arvesyndstate of sinfulness in each human
Polish grzech pierworodny
  • grzech pierworodnystate of sinfulness in each human
Portuguese pecado original
  • pecado originalstate of sinfulness in each human
Romanian păcat originar, păcat strămoșesc
  • păcat originarstate of sinfulness in each human
  • păcat strămoșescstate of sinfulness in each human
  • păcatul originarAdam's disobedience
  • păcatul strămoșescAdam's disobedience
Russian перворо́дный гре́х
  • перворо́дный гре́х (pervoródnyj gréx)state of sinfulness in each human
Scottish Gaelic peacadh-gine, peacadh an nàdair
  • peacadh-ginestate of sinfulness in each human
  • peacadh an nàdairstate of sinfulness in each human
Spanish pecado original
  • pecado originalstate of sinfulness in each human
Swedish arvsynd
  • arvsyndstate of sinfulness in each human
Tagalog salang orihinal, unang sala
  • salang orihinalstate of sinfulness in each human
  • unang salastate of sinfulness in each human
Thai บาปกำเนิด
  • บาปกำเนิด (bàap-gam-nə̀ət)state of sinfulness in each human
Vietnamese nguyên tội
  • nguyên tộistate of sinfulness in each human
Welsh llwgr gwreiddiol
  • llwgr gwreiddiolstate of sinfulness in each human
Cite this entry
APA

original sin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/original%20sin

MLA

“original sin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/original%20sin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “original sin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/original%20sin.

Source: original sin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.