twice-born

[ twahys-bawrn ]

adjective

1. Hinduism. of or relating to members of the Indian castes of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, who undergo a spiritual rebirth and initiation in adolescence.
2. having undergone reincarnation.
3. born-again ( def 1 ).
4. denoting any moral or religious experience that brings about a major reorientation of a person's character or personality.

Word History and Origins

Origin of twice-born¹

1400–50, 1785–95 twice-born fordef 1; late Middle English: an epithet of Bacchus

Example Sentences

These timelines — artifacts of white supremacy — condensed a civilizational narrative: A divinely ordained course of empire moves westward from the Old World to the New, from Christian Rome to Reformation England to the twice-born U.S. republic, with its empire of liberty serving as the endpoint of progress, the final stage in historical time.

From Los Angeles Times

Mukhopadhyay, a philosopher in Varanasi, told me as I was researching my 2019 book “The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges.”

From New York Times

In the process, “The Twice-Born” becomes a moving, if maundering, riff on what it means to be modern.

From The New Yorker

“The Twice-Born,” a new memoir by Aatish Taseer, is troubled by a single plaintive question: Does a city steeped in tradition have a future in modern India?

From The New Yorker

The “twice-born” in Aatish Taseer’s title are the Brahmins who are “reborn” when they undergo initiation as young men into India’s highest caste.

From New York Times