Table of Contents
Definition of Rite of Passage
(noun) A formal ceremony, event, or ritual marking a new stage in an individual’s life such as birth, death, or marriage.
Examples of Rite of Passage
- A bar mitzvah, held when a Jewish boy turn 13, that signifies the transition into adulthood.
- Baptism, as practiced by Christians.
Etymology of Rite of Passage
- Coined by Charles Arnold van Gennep (1873–1957) in Les Rites de Passage (1960); the term is translated from the French phrase rite de passage.
Rite of Passage Pronunciation
Syllabification: rite of pas·sage
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /rIEt uhv pAs-ij/
- British English – /rIEt UHv pAs-ij/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /raɪt ʌv ˈpæsəʤ/
- British English – /raɪt ɒv ˈpæsɪʤ/
Usage Notes
- Plural: rites of passage
- Rite is short for ritual.
- A rite of passage signifies a change in an individual’s status.
- A thanatologist studies rites of passage related to death.
Additional Information
- Aging and Social Gerontology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Death and Dying Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Religion Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “rite” and “passage” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Mahdi, Louise Carus, Steven Foster, and Meredith Little, eds. 1987. Betwixt & Between: Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation. La Salle, IL: Open Court.
- van Gennep, Arnold. 1960. The Rites of Passage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Related Terms
Works Consulted
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
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Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Rite of Passage
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “rite of passage.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/rite-of-passage/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
rite of passage. (2015). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/rite-of-passage/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “rite of passage.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/rite-of-passage/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“rite of passage.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/rite-of-passage/>.