atheism (English)

Where does "atheism" come from?

The word 'atheism' originates from the Ancient Greek compound 'átheos,' which combines the prefix 'a-' meaning 'without' and 'theós,' meaning 'god.' This root traces back even further to the Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-, a term associated with placing or setting. The concept traveled into English via Middle French in the 16th century, retaining its foundational meaning of being without, or lacking a belief in, deities.

Full etymology tree

• atheism (English), 'A non-belief in deities.'
  • inherited athéisme (Middle French)
    • derived athée (Middle French)
      • learned borrowing ἄθεος (átheos) (Ancient Greek), 'without gods'
        • compound ἀ- (a-) (Ancient Greek), 'The alpha privativum, used to make words that have a sense opposite to the word (or stem) to which the prefix is attached. It is also known as privative a and alpha privative; a-, ab-, an-, anti-, contra-, de-, dis-, ex-, il-, im-, in-, ob-, ne-, non-, not, un-'
        • compound θεός (theós) (Ancient Greek), 'divine (used only in comparative: θεώτερος (theṓteros))'
          • inherited *tʰehós (Proto-Hellenic), 'god, deity'
            • inherited *dʰéh₁s (Proto-Indo-European), 'god, godhead, deity'
              • derived *dʰeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to do'
              • affix *-s (Proto-Indo-European), 'Derives feminine mobile-accented root nouns from roots.'
    • affix -isme (Middle French)

Direct ancestors

• ἀ- (Ancient Greek)
• θεός (Ancient Greek)
• ἄθεος (Ancient Greek)

Updated July 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris