A person who is devoted to the church or its teachings; someone who advocates strongly for church interests.
From church + -ite (a suffix forming nouns denoting followers or adherents of something). The -ite suffix comes from Greek origin and was heavily used in English from the 18th century onward to label group members.
The -ite suffix labels group members across history: 'Israelite,' 'Jacobite,' 'Trotskyite'—it's how societies name their factions and followers, making it one of the most politically charged word-endings in English.
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