hea·then /ˈhiðən/
 異教徒,野蠻人,粗野的人(a.)異教的,野蠻的


 Hea·then n.; pl. Heathens or collectively Heathen.
 1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.
 2. An irreligious person.
    If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens.   --V. Knox.
 The heathen, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all people except the Jews; now used of all people except Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
    Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.   --Ps. ii. 8.
 Syn: -- Pagan; gentile. See Pagan.


 Hea·then a.
 1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. “The heathen philosopher.”  “All in gold, like heathen gods.”
 2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.
 3. Irreligious; scoffing.

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 heathen
      adj : not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and
            Islam [syn: heathenish, pagan, ethnic]
      n : a person who does not acknowledge your God [syn: pagan, gentile,
           infidel]


 Heathen
    (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word _goyim_ denoted generally
    all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The
    Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner
    from the other _goyim_. They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23;
    26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites,
    Hittites, etc., were the _goyim_, the heathen, with whom the
    Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1
    Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of
    these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters
    (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps.
    9:5, 15, 17).

      The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, _ethne_,
    has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it
    denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an
    idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are
    strangers to revealed religion.