Layman
/ˈleɪmən/ name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
- 2 a man who is not a clergyman or a professional person wordnet
- 3 Someone who is not a professional in a given field. broadly
"Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman."
- 4 A common person.
- 5 A person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject.
"should he be held to be just a layman, or does he have some art?"
Show 1 more definition
- 6 Lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"Much legal language is obscure to a layman."
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”).