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layman

Pronunciation: /ˈleɪmən/

The English word “layman” has 5 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
  2. Someone who is not a professional in a given field.
  3. A common person.
  4. A person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject.
  5. Lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order.

Etymology

From Middle English layman, lay man, equivalent to lay (“non-clergy”) + man. Cognate with Old Frisian lēkmann, lēkmonn (“layman”), obsolete Dutch leekeman (“layman”), Old High German leihman (“layman”), Danish lægmand (“layman”), Swedish lekman (“layman”), Norwegian lekmann (“layman”), Icelandic leikmaður (“layman”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.