bigot

Meaning

Noun

• One who is narrow-mindedly devoted to their own ideas and groups, and intolerant of (people of) differing ideas, races, genders, religions, politics, etc.
• One who is overly pious in matters of religion, often hypocritically or else superstitiously so.

Origin

• From French bigot ("a sanctimonious person; a religious hypocrite"), from Middle French bigot, from Old French bigot, of uncertain origin. It is often thought to derive from an Old French derogatory term applied to the religious Normans, said to be known for frequently swearing Middle English bi God ("by God") (compare Old English, Middle High German, Middle Dutch), which in any case is thought to be the origin of the surname Bigott, Bygott. (Compare the French use of goddams to refer to the English in Joan of Arc's time.) Liberman however thinks this has "too strong a taste of a folk etymological guess invented in retrospect" and prefers Grammont et al.'s theory that it derives from Albigot. From meaning someone overly (hypocritically or superstitiously) religious it came to mean someone overly devoted to their own religious opinion, and then to its current sense.