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異端 (いたん, itan) Japanese meaning: heresy | Kotomora
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とう
時じ
の
教きょう
会かい
から
異い
端たん
と
見み
なさ
れ
た
。
His views were regarded as heresy by the church at that time.
That researcher was a nonconformist figure in the academic world.
Kanji 異 uncommon, different, queerness Related words 邪説 is a strongly negative term for a 'wicked' or corrupting doctrine, while 異端 is more neutral and can even be used approvingly of nonconformists.
異端 is a neutral, formal term for heresy or heterodoxy, while 外道 carries a stronger Buddhist origin and pejorative force.
異端 specifically means heresy or heterodoxy in religious or ideological contexts, while 邪道 can also refer more broadly to any improper method, not just belief systems.
Opposites 正統 is the officially recognized, correct doctrine, while 異端 is a belief or practice that deviates from it.
正教 refers to established, correct doctrine, while 異端 refers to heresy or teachings considered outside that orthodoxy.
異端 means heresy or an unorthodox stance, the direct ideological opposite of 正統派.
Word family nonconformist; maverick; enfant terrible
heathen; pagan; heretic · nonconformist; freethinker; iconoclast; rebel
viewing as heresy; regarding as heretical
the Inquisition
Etymology From Middle Chinese 異端 (MC *jiH twan, 'different beginning/end; heterodoxy'). The Japanese reading いたん is the go-on reading. The word has been used in Japanese Buddhist and Confucian contexts since at least the Heian period to refer to unorthodox teachings.
He was branded as a heretic because of that statement.
heretical doctrine; unorthodox belief