Gentile

Gentile (Lat. gentilis, from gens, 'a nation'), in Scripture, a member of a non-Jewish nation, an alien, an unbeliever, a non-Christian. The Heb. goim, pl. of goi, 'nation,' is used both of foreigners in general and foreigners as enemies, as heathens; so in the New Testament the Greek ethnē, 'nations,' and Hellēnes, 'Greeks,' though sometimes meaning simply foreigners, non-Jews, usually had the invidious sense of unbeliever, heathen. Compare the Greek use of Barbarian (q.v.).