Abecedarian

From Latin abecedārius +‎ -an; see abecedarian.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.biˌsiˈdæɹ.i.ən/

Abecedarian (plural Abecedarians)

1. (historical) A member of a 16th-century Anabaptist sect, follower of the Zwickau prophets (and specially of Thomas Storch), who believed that any kind of knowledge (even basic reading and writing) would keep one from obtaining salvation.^[1] [from 19th c.]
   • 1990 August 27, Cynthia B. Hanson, “HORSE PLAY”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 January 2025:

     Behind the stable doors, where competitors frenziedly shine tack and polish hooves, Donna McNulty busies herself with her horse, Abecedarian.

   • 2013 May 13, Judith Shulevitz, “The Lethality of Loneliness”, in The New Republic‎^[2], archived from the original on 31 March 2015:

     Heckman has been analyzing data from two famous early-childhood intervention programs, the Abecedarian Project of the ’70s and the Perry Preschool project of the ’60s. Both have furnished ample evidence that, if you enroll very young children from poor families in programs that give both them and their parents an extra boost, then they grow up to be wealthier and healthier than their counterparts—less fat, less sick, better educated, and, for men, more likely to hold down a job.

• Abecedarians in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)