Muhammedan

1 9.9

An old word for a person who follows Islam that is now seen as offensive and replaced by Muslim

noun
/məˈhæmədən/

Slur

: maometano

During his studies, he discovered that the term Muhammedan is now considered outdated and politically incorrect.

Examples

Some historical texts describe the beliefs and practices of Muhammedan culture in the context of early Islamic history.
The American scholar Charles Matthews in his Palestine—Muhammedan Holy Land expressed the matter clearly:

Academic text (1994)
In the early 20th century, many Western books referred to Islam's followers as Muhammedan instead of Muslim.

Synonyms

Muslim

vsMuhammedan

167 1.1

A person who follows Islam

is an outdated and inappropriate name now replaced by the modern neutral form

Surface Forms

Muhammedan singular

Muhammedans plural

Morphology

Muhammedan = Muhammad (transparent) = Muhammed + an

Formed by adding the productive suffix '-an' to the prophet's name to indicate a follower or relation; the meaning is predictable though the term is archaic.

Etymology

The word Muhammedan comes from the name Muhammad plus the ending -an, so it originally meant 'a follower of Muhammad'. Today the word is old and often not appropriate because it suggests people follow Muhammad rather than God, so people now use Muslim.