pontiff

See also: Pontiff

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pontife m, from Latin pontifex m. Doublet of pontifex.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒntɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

pontiff (plural pontiffs)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex. [from 17th c.]
2. A bishop of the early Church; now specifically, the Pope. [from 16th c.]
   • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 46:

     In several respects John turned out to be an unexpected figure as supreme pontiff.

3. (figuratively) Any chief figure or leader of a religion. [from 16th c.]

Related terms

• pontificate

Translations

pope — see also pope

• Asturian: pontífiz m
• Belarusian: панты́фік m (pantýfik)
• Bulgarian: понтифекс m (pontifeks)
• Catalan: pontífex m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教皇 (zh) (jiàohuáng), 教宗 (zh) (jiàozōng)

• Dutch: paus (nl) m, hogepriester (nl) m, pontifex (nl) m
• Esperanto: ĉefpastro
• Estonian: pontifeks
• Finnish: pontiff (fi)
• French: pontife (fr) m
• German: Pontifex (de) m
• Greek: ποντίφικας (el) m (pontífikas)
• Italian: pontefice (it)
• Japanese: 教皇 (ja) (きょうおう, kyōō)
• Korean: 교황(敎皇) (ko) (gyohwang)
• Persian: پونتیفکس (pontifeks)
• Polish: pontyfik (pl) m
• Portuguese: pontífice (pt)
• Romanian: pontif (ro)
• Russian: понти́фик (ru) m (pontífik)
• Slovak: pontifex m
• Spanish: papa (es) m, pontífice (es) m
• Tagalog: pontipise
• Ukrainian: понти́фік m (pontýfik)
• Vietnamese: giáo hoàng (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ĉefpastro

References

• “pontiff”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “pontiff”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pontiff”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.