Layman

//ˈleɪmən// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
  2. 2
    a man who is not a clergyman or a professional person wordnet
  3. 3
    Someone who is not a professional in a given field. broadly

    "Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman."

  4. 4
    A common person.
  5. 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
  1. 6
    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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