celibate (2009-09-09)

Part of Speech: adjective

Pronunciation: ['sel-ê-bêt]

Definition: (1) Unmarried for religious reasons, bound by oath or inclination never to marry. (2) Sexually abstinent.

Usage: Of course, the original use, referring to priests who are forbidden to marry, is always in fashion: "Discussion is currently underway in the US Catholic Church as to whether celibacy should be optional for priests." We would, however, recommend keeping "celibate" and "sexually abstinent" distinct, using "bachelorhood" to refer to a temporary state and "celibacy" to a permanent state of singleness, "Although both brothers are unmarried, Thor seems to be a bachelor looking for the right woman while Warren appears irretrievably celibate."

Suggested Usage: US dictionaries such as the American Heritage (AHD) and Merriam-Webster (MW) now list "sexually abstinent" as the primary meaning of today's word. MW in particular is quick to adopt US speech errors as acceptable usage but AHD usually waits until there is no fighting it. However, if you use this word outside the US, keep in mind that the second meaning may not be a familiar one: it does not appear in the ultimate treasury of English, the Oxford English Dictionary. The state of being unmarried for religious reasons is celibacy and someone observing that state is a celibate.

Etymology: There is no question about the original meaning of today's word because of its origin: Latin "caelibatus" from caelebs "unmarried." The Latin word is a mystery but might have come from an old root *kai "alone" combined with the same root underlying English "live" and German leben "live." If so, today's word would have originated in a compound meaning "alone-living." Since we don't find the second root elsewhere in Latin, it could have died out early, forcing the compound to become a single noun, or the compound might have been borrowed from a Germanic language in the first place. The root *kai also developed into Latvian kails "naked, bare" and Sanskrit kevala "alone, exclusive, only."