BIGOT, one obstinately and intolerantly holding particular opinions, generally religious. The early meaning of the word in English, at the end of the 16th century, was that of a religious hypocrite. It was applied in French, in the 12th century, to cer tain tribes of Southern Gaul, and, in an abusive sense, to the Nor mans. The meaning changed in French to that of "religious hypocrite" through the application, in the feminine bigote, to the members of the religious sisterhoods called Beguines (q.v.).