disciple

See also: Disciple

English

Etymology

From Middle English disciple, discipul, from Old English discipul (“disciple, scholar”), from Latin discipulus (“pupil, learner”). Later influenced or superseded in Middle English by Old French deciple.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈsaɪ.pəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪpəl
• Hyphenation: dis‧ci‧ple

Noun

disciple (plural disciples)

1. A person who learns from another, especially one who then teaches others.
2. An active follower or adherent of someone, or some philosophy etc.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 9:10:

     And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.

3. (Ireland) A wretched, miserable-looking man.

Synonyms

• student

Derived terms

• condisciple
• disciplelike
• discipless

Related terms

• discipleship
• disciplic
• discipline

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: disaipel

Translations

person who learns from another

• Afrikaans: dissipel
• Aghwan: 𐔰𐕐𐔰𐕙𐕄𐔴𐕜 (ašarḳeṭ)
• Albanian: dishipujë
• Armenian: աշակերտ (hy) (ašakert)
• Bulgarian: учени́к (bg) m (učeník)
• Catalan: deixeble (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弟子 (zh) (dìzǐ), 門徒 / 门徒 (zh) (méntú)

• Czech: následovník m, žák (cs) m

  Old Czech: discipul m

• Dutch: discipel (nl) m
• Esperanto: disĉiplo
• Finnish: oppilas (fi)
• French: disciple (fr)
• Galician: discípulo m
• German: Jünger (de) m, Jüngerin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐍀𐍉𐌽𐌴𐌹𐍃 m (sipōneis)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: μαθητής m (mathētḗs)

• Greenlandic: ajoqersugaq
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} temimbo'e

• Hindi: विद्यार्थी (hi) m (vidyārthī), विद्यार्थिनी f (vidyārthinī), छात्र (hi) m (chātra), छात्रा (hi) f (chātrā), शिष्य (hi) m (śiṣya), शिष्या (hi) f (śiṣyā)
• Hungarian: tanítvány (hu)
• Indonesian: murid (id)
• Irish: dalta m
• Japanese: 弟子 (ja) (でし, deshi), 門徒 (ja) (もんと, monto)
• Korean: 제자(弟子) (ko) (jeja), 문도(門徒) (mundo)
• Latin: discipulus (la), discens
• Norman: discipl'ye m
• Old English: ġingra m
• Old Saxon: jungaro m
• Persian: شاگرد (fa) (šâgerd)
• Polish: uczeń (pl) m, adept (pl), uczennica (pl) f, adeptka (pl)
• Portuguese: discípulo (pt) m
• Russian: учени́к (ru) m (učeník), после́дователь (ru) m (poslédovatelʹ), сторо́нник (ru) m (storónnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: deisciobal m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wuknik m, wuknica f

• Spanish: discípulo (es) m
• Tagalog: disipulo
• Volapük: (♂♀) tidäb (vo), (♂) hitidäb, (♀) jitidäb
• Welsh: disgybl m, disgybles f

active follower or adherent

• Afrikaans: dissipel
• Aghwan: 𐔰𐕐𐔰𐕙𐕄𐔴𐕜 (ašarḳeṭ)
• Basque: dizipulu
• Bulgarian: после́довател (bg) m (poslédovatel)
• Catalan: deixeble (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門徒 / 门徒 (zh) (méntú), 追隨者 / 追随者 (zh) (zhuīsuízhě)

• Comorian:

  Ngazidja Comorian: mna-shioni class 1/2

• Czech: stoupenec (cs) m, učedník m
• Dutch: leerling (nl) m
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)
• French: disciple (fr)
• Galician: discípulo m
• German: Jünger (de) m, Jüngerin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐍀𐍉𐌽𐌴𐌹𐍃 m (sipōneis)
• Hindi: अनुयायी (hi) m (anuyāyī)
• Hungarian: követő (hu)
• Irish: deisceabal m

  Old Irish: deiscipul m

• Japanese: 門徒 (ja) (もんと, monto), 信奉者 (しんぽうしゃ, shinpōsha)
• Korean: 문도(門徒) (mundo)
• Lao: ສາວົກ (lo) (sā wok)
• Latin: discipulus (la)
• Norman: discipl'ye m
• Old English: ġingra m
• Persian: مرید (fa) (morid)
• Plautdietsch: Jinja m
• Portuguese: discípulo (pt) m
• Russian: после́дователь (ru) m (poslédovatelʹ), сторо́нник (ru) m (storónnik), апо́стол (ru) m (apóstol) (apostle)
• Scottish Gaelic: deisciobal m
• Shan: တပႄး (shn) (tǎ páae)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wuknik m, wuknica f

• Spanish: discípulo (es) m
• Swahili: mwanafunzi (sw) class 1/2
• Thai: สาวก (th) (sǎa-wók)
• Ukrainian: у́чень (uk) m (účenʹ), учени́ця (uk) f (učenýcja), послідо́вник (uk) m (poslidóvnyk, literally “follower”), послідо́вниця f (poslidóvnycja, literally “follower”)

See also

• apostle

Verb

disciple (third-person singular simple present disciples, present participle discipling, simple past and past participle discipled)

1. (religion, transitive) To convert (a person) into a disciple.
2. (religion, transitive) To train, educate, teach.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     fraile youth is oft to follie led, / Through false allurement of that pleasing baite, / That better were in vertues discipled […]

   1. (Christianity, certain denominations) To routinely counsel (one's peer or junior) one-on-one in their discipleship of Christ, as a fellow affirmed disciple.
      • 2026 February 18, Diana Chandler, “Church of England abandons pursuit of spiritual blessings for same-sex couples”, in mbcpathway.com‎^[1]:

        Most recently, messengers to the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting passed the resolution On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family, which resolves among many beliefs that “we encourage churches to disciple their members in a biblical view of marriage, sexuality, parenting, and the sanctity of life.”

Derived terms

• discipler

Further reading

• “disciple”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “disciple”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French deciple, borrowed from Latin discipulus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.sipl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

disciple m (plural disciples)

1. disciple

Further reading

• “disciple”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012