nieuwlichter

Dutch

Etymology

From nieuw licht +‎ -er. Often said to be coined in reference to the Zwijndrechtse Nieuwlichters, an early restorationist Christian movement, but the term predates the movement by about 25 years. Steven Blankaart and A. de Heid used the terms nieuwlicht and nieuwlichtend (in the obsolete spellings nieuwligt and nieuwligtend) in the titles of some seventeenth-century medical publications to denote innovation, but this usage does not seem to have caught on at the time.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈniu̯ˌlɪx.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nieuw‧lich‧ter

Noun

nieuwlichter m (plural nieuwlichters, diminutive nieuwlichtertje n)

1. (derogatory) one who introduces or adheres to new (newfangled) notions, practices or commodities [from 1790s]

Derived terms

• nieuwlichterij