# godfearing

> English word · Adjective

## Definitions
1. Acting with obedience to rules established by a deity out of fear of the power of that deity.
2. Devout; pious; very religious.

## Etymology
From god + fearing, likely an alteration of Middle English goddfrihti (“god-fearing”, literally “god-frighty”) and god-friht (“god-fearing”) (whence modern English god-fright), from Old English godfyrht (“god-fearing”). Compare Old High German gotforht (“god-fearing”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/godfearing