crusader

English

Etymology

From crusade +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɹuːˈseɪdə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɹuˈseɪdɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdə(ɹ)

Noun

crusader (plural crusaders)

1. (historical) A fighter or participant in the medieval Crusades.
   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and possessions.”

   the crusaders of the Middle Ages

2. (figurative) A person engaged in a crusade.
3. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) An American, especially a soldier or leader who wages war against Islamist militants.
   • 1998, Osama Bin Laden[1]

     Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

4. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.
5. (Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) (either attributively or in the plural) The United States and its Western allies.

Derived terms

• caped crusader
• crusader complex
• crusaderism
• crusaderist
• crusaderlike
• crusadery

 

Translations

fighter in the medieval crusades

• Afrikaans: kruisvaarder
• Arabic: صليبي (salibi)
• Armenian: խաչակիր (hy) (xačʻakir)

  Old Armenian: խաչընկալ (xačʻənkal), խաչազգեստ (xačʻazgest)

• Belarusian: крыжак m (kryžak)
• Bulgarian: кръстоно́сец (bg) m (krǎstonósec)
• Catalan: croat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 十字軍／十字军 (zh) (shízìjūn), 十字軍戰士／十字军战士 (shízìjūn zhànshì)

• Czech: křižák (cs) m
• Danish: korsfarer c
• Dutch: kruisvaarder (nl) m, kruisridder (nl) m (knight)
• Esperanto: krucmilitisto
• Estonian: ristirüütel, ristisõdalane, ristisõdija
• Finnish: ristiretkeläinen (fi), ristiretkeilijä
• French: croisé (fr) m
• Galician: cruzado m
• Georgian: ჯვაროსანი (ǯvarosani)
• German: Kreuzfahrer (de) m, Kreuzritter (de) m (knight), Kreuzzügler (de) m
• Greek: σταυροφόρος (el) m (stavrofóros)
• Hebrew: צַלְבָּן (he) m (tsalbán)
• Hungarian: keresztes (hu), kereszteslovag
• Icelandic: krossfari m
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: crosáidí m
• Italian: crociato (it) m
• Japanese: 十字軍 (じゅうじぐん, jūjigun), 十字軍騎士 (じゅうじぐんきし, jūjigun kishi)
• Kazakh: кірескер (kıresker)
• Latin: crucesignatus m
• Latvian: krustnesis m
• Lithuanian: kryžiuotis m
• Luxembourgish: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: крстоносец m (krstonosec)
• Malay: salibi
• Maltese: kruċjat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: korsfarer m

• Occitan: crosat (oc) m
• Polish: krzyżowiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: cruzado (pt) m
• Romanian: cruciat (ro) m
• Russian: крестоно́сец (ru) m (krestonósec)
• Serbo-Croatian: križar (sh) m
• Slovak: križiak m
• Slovene: križar (sl) m
• Spanish: cruzado (es) m
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: korsfarare (sv) c, korsriddare (sv) c (knight)
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: haçlılar pl
• Ukrainian: хрестоносець m (xrestonosecʹ)
• Urdu: صلیبی (salībī)
• Vietnamese: quân thập tự
• Welsh: croesgadwr m
• West Frisian: krúsfarder c

person engaged in a figurative crusade

• Afrikaans: kruisvaarder
• Catalan: croat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鬥士／斗士 (zh) (dòushì), 志士 (zh) (zhìshì)

• Irish: agóideoir m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: korsfarer m

• Turkish: mücahit (tr), alperen (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 십자군 (ko) (sipjagun)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} crwsadydd m

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “crusader”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.