A votary is a person who has given themselves to a religion — often someone who has made a formal promise (a vow) and lives by it, such as a monk, a nun, or a devoted worshipper of a particular god. The idea inside the word is the promise: a votary is bound, not just interested. From there the word stretched, and today you meet the stretched use more often than the religious one: a votary of something is anyone who follows it with religious-level devotion — "a votary of jazz", "a votary of free trade". When used this way it is usually a little playful or a little grand, as if to say "this person treats it like a faith". It is a formal, literary, old-fashioned word. Nobody at a bus stop says it. In modern writing you would normally choose *devotee*, *follower*, or *worshipper* instead, and "votary" appears when a writer wants an old, ceremonial sound. There is also a rare adjective use meaning "promised by a vow", but you can safely treat *votary* as a noun and *votive* as the adjective.

虔誠的信徒、篤信者（引申：狂熱擁護者、死忠追隨者）