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Gentile (/ˈdʒɛntaɪl/) is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish.[1][2] Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term gentile to describe outsiders.[3][4][5] More rarely, the term is used as a synonym for heathen, pagan.[5] As a term used to describe non-members of a religious/ethnic group, gentile is sometimes compared to other words used to describe the "outgroup" in other cultures[6] (see List of terms for ethnic out-groups).
In some translations of the Quran, gentile is used to translate an Arabic word that refers to non-Jews and/or people not versed in or not able to read scripture.[7]
The English word gentile derives from the Latin word gentilis, meaning "of or belonging to the same people or nation" (from Latin gēns 'clan, tribe, people, family'). Archaic and specialist uses of the word gentile in English (particularly in linguistics) still carry this meaning of "relating to a people or nation."[5] The development of the word to principally mean "non-Jew" in English is entwined with the history of Bible translations from Hebrew and Greek into Latin and English. Its meaning has also been shaped by Rabbinical Jewish thought and Christian theology.[8]
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