Meaning

noun a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization

noun person of exceptional holiness

noun model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

originFrom Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancīre (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Doublet of Sanctus. Displaced native Middle English…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0