pilgrim

pil·grim
P3I1L1G2R1I1M3
/ˈpɪlɡɹɪm/

noun

Any traveler.

Similar
Pilgrim Father
OriginMiddle English pilegrim ← Old English pilegrī̆m ← Old French pelegrin →
Less commonScrabble 12
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Meanings

pilgrim1

nounpilgrim (plural pilgrims)

plural pilgrims

  1. One who travels to visit a site of religious significance.
    1. literaryAny traveler.

      strangers and pilgrims on the earth

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 11:13
    2. broadlyAn early American settler.
  2. slangA newcomer.

    "I wouldn't unfork that horse yet, pilgrim. I want a good look at ya first."

    2014, W.R. Benton, War Drums
  3. historicalA silk screen formerly attached to the back of a woman's bonnet to protect the neck.
verbpilgrim (third-person singular simple present pilgrims, present participle pilgriming, simple past and past participle pilgrimed)

present singular third person pilgrims · participle present pilgriming · participle past pilgrimed · past pilgrimed

  1. intransitiveTo make a pilgrimage

    [T]o all galleries, churches, sistine chapels, ruins, coliseums, and artistic or dilettante shrines he zealously pilgrimed[.]

    1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling
    1 more example

    The tzadikim founded residences, called "courts" by their adherents, whereto the chassidim […] used to pilgrim in order to receive inspiration and salvation

    1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 413
  2. archaicintransitiveTo wander; to ramble.

    For that he hath no certain home, or diet, but pilgrims up and down every where, feeding upon all sorts of Plants

    1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, →OCLC

Pilgrim2

nounPilgrim (plural Pilgrims)

plural Pilgrims

  1. historicalplural normallyA settler of the Plymouth Colony, who left for the New World in the early 17th century.
  2. ball gamesSomeone connected with Plymouth Argyle Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
proper noun
  1. A surname.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounone of the colonists from England who sailed to America on the Mayflower and founded the colony of Plymouth in New England in 1620

Similar
Pilgrim Father
Broader
settlercolonist
Also see
pilgrim father

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinperegrīnus“foreigner”
  2. Old Frenchpelegrin
  3. Old Englishpilegrī̆m
  4. Middle Englishpilegrim
  5. Englishpilgrim

Inherited from Middle English pilegrim, from Old English pilegrī̆m, from Old French pelegrin, from Latin peregrīnus (“foreigner”). Doublet of peregrine. The change of /r…r/ to /l…r/ is an effect of dissimilation in early Romance; compare Italian pellegrino.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans pelgrim
  • pelgrimtraveler, especially to religious sites
Arabic حَاجّ, حَجِّيّ
  • حَاجّ (ḥājj)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • حَجِّيّ (ḥajjiyy)traveler, especially to religious sites
Bengali তীর্থযাত্রী
  • তীর্থযাত্রী (tirthojatri)traveler, especially to religious sites
Bulgarian хаджи́я, покло́нник
  • хаджи́я (hadžíja)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • покло́нник (poklónnik)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • пилигри́м (piligrím)traveler, especially to religious sites
Catalan pelegrí, pelegrina
  • pelegrítraveler, especially to religious sites
  • pelegrinatraveler, especially to religious sites
Chinese Mandarin 朝覲者 /朝觐者, 朝聖者 /朝圣者
  • 朝覲者 /朝觐者 (cháojìnzhě)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • 朝聖者 /朝圣者 (cháoshèngzhě)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • 巡禮者 /巡礼者 (xúnlǐzhě)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • 香客 (xiāngkè)traveler, especially to religious sites
Czech poutník
  • poutníktraveler, especially to religious sites
Danish pilgrim
  • pilgrimtraveler, especially to religious sites
Dutch pelgrim
  • pelgrimtraveler, especially to religious sites
Esperanto pilgrimanto
  • pilgrimantotraveler, especially to religious sites
Estonian palverändur
  • palverändurtraveler, especially to religious sites
Finnish pyhiinvaeltaja
  • pyhiinvaeltajatraveler, especially to religious sites
French pèlerin
  • pèlerintraveler, especially to religious sites
German Pilger, Wallfahrer
  • Pilgertraveler, especially to religious sites
  • Wallfahrertraveler, especially to religious sites
Greek προσκυνητής
  • προσκυνητής (proskynitís)traveler, especially to religious sites
Hebrew עוֹלֵה רֶגֶל, צַלְיָן
  • עוֹלֵה רֶגֶל (olé régel)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • צַלְיָן (tsalyán)traveler, especially to religious sites
Hindi तीर्थयात्री
  • तीर्थयात्री (tīrthayātrī)traveler, especially to religious sites
Hungarian zarándok
  • zarándoktraveler, especially to religious sites
Icelandic pílagrímur
  • pílagrímurtraveler, especially to religious sites
Irish oilithreach
  • oilithreachtraveler, especially to religious sites
Italian pellegrino
  • pellegrinotraveler, especially to religious sites
Japanese 巡礼者
  • 巡礼者 (junreisha)traveler, especially to religious sites
Korean 순례자
  • 순례자 (sullyeja)traveler, especially to religious sites
Latvian svētceļnieks
  • svētceļniekstraveler, especially to religious sites
Lithuanian maldininkas
  • maldininkastraveler, especially to religious sites
Malay jemaah
  • jemaahtraveler, especially to religious sites
Norwegian Bokmål pilegrim
  • pilegrimtraveler, especially to religious sites
Polish pielgrzym, pątnik
  • pielgrzymtraveler, especially to religious sites
  • pątniktraveler, especially to religious sites
Portuguese peregrino
  • peregrinotraveler, especially to religious sites
Romanian pelerin
  • pelerintraveler, especially to religious sites
Russian пало́мник, пилигри́м
  • пало́мник (palómnik)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • пилигри́м (piligrím)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • стра́нник (stránnik)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • богомо́лец (bogomólec)traveler, especially to religious sites
Scottish Gaelic eilthireach
  • eilthireachtraveler, especially to religious sites
Slovak pútnik
  • pútniktraveler, especially to religious sites
Spanish peregrino
  • peregrinotraveler, especially to religious sites
Swedish pilgrim, vallfärdare
  • pilgrimtraveler, especially to religious sites
  • vallfärdaretraveler, especially to religious sites
Tagalog peregrino
  • peregrinotraveler, especially to religious sites
Thai ผู้แสวงบุญ, นักแสวงบุญ
  • ผู้แสวงบุญ (pûu-sà-wɛ̌ɛng-bun)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • นักแสวงบุญ (nák-sà-wɛ̌ɛng-bun)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • จาริก (jaa-rík)traveler, especially to religious sites
Turkish hacı
  • hacıtraveler, especially to religious sites
Ukrainian проча́нин, пало́мник
  • проча́нин (pročányn)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • пало́мник (palómnyk)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • пілігри́м (pilihrým)traveler, especially to religious sites
Urdu زائِر, حاجی
  • زائِر (zāir)traveler, especially to religious sites
  • حاجی (hājī)traveler, especially to religious sites
Vietnamese người hành hương
  • người hành hươngtraveler, especially to religious sites
Welsh pererin
  • pererintraveler, especially to religious sites
Cite this entry
APA

pilgrim. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pilgrim

MLA

“pilgrim.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pilgrim. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pilgrim,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pilgrim.

Source: pilgrim on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.