cleric

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin clēricus, from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós), from κλῆρος (klêros, “a casting lots, drawing lots”). Many officers at Athens obtained their offices by lot, as opposed to election (Liddell and Scott). Doublet of clerk.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈklɛɹɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈkleɹɪk/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkleɹək/
• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪk

Noun

cleric (plural clerics)

2. A member of a clergy.

   Synonyms: clergymember, clergyperson; see also Thesaurus:cleric

   Hyponyms: clergyman, clergywoman; (Christian) bishop, cardinal, churchman, curate, deacon, ecclesiastic, minister, parson, pastor, pope, preacher, prelate, presbyter, priest, rector, reverend, vicar; (Jewish) rabbi, (Muslim) imam, caliph, qadi, mufti, mullah, muezzin

   Holonyms: clergy; see also Thesaurus:clergy

3. (roleplaying games) A spellcaster class that receives their spells (especially healing) from their deity.

Derived terms

• anticleric
• anticlericalism
• clericate
• clericity
• clericocracy
• declericalize

Related terms

• clerical
• clerisy
• clerk

Descendants

• ⇒ Welsh: clerigwr

Translations

clergy member

• Arabic: قِسِّيس (ar) m (qissīs), كَاهِن m (kāhin)
• Belarusian: свяшчэннаслужы́цель m (svjaščennaslužýcjelʹ), сьвяшчэннаслужы́цель m (sʹvjaščennaslužýcjelʹ) (Taraškievica), свяшчэ́ннік m (svjaščénnik), сьвяшчэ́ньнiк m (sʹvjaščénʹnik) (Taraškievica), свята́р m (svjatár), сьвята́р m (sʹvjatár) (Taraškievica)
• Bulgarian: свещенослужи́тел (bg) m (sveštenoslužítel), духо́вник (bg) m (duhóvnik), свеще́ник (bg) m (svešténik)
• Catalan: clergue (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 牧師 / 牧师 (zh) (mùshī), 教士 (zh) (jiàoshì)

• Czech: duchovní (cs) m
• Danish: gejstlig c
• Dutch: geestelijke (nl) m, clericus (nl) m
• Finnish: pappi (fi)
• French: prêtre (fr) m, ecclésiastique (fr) m, clerc (fr) m
• Galician: crego (gl) m
• German: Kleriker (de) m
• Greek: κληρικός (el) m (klirikós)
• Icelandic: klerkur (is) m
• Ido: kleriko (io)
• Irish: cléireach m
• Italian: chierico (it) m
• Japanese: 牧師 (ja) (ぼくし, bokushi), 聖職者 (ja) (せいしょくしゃ, seishokusha)
• Khmer: អ្នកបួស (nĕək buəh)
• Korean: 성직자(聖職者) (seongjikja)
• Latin: sacerdōs (la) m or f, pontifex m
• Macedonian: свештенослу́жител m (sveštenoslúžitel), ду́ховник m (dúhovnik), све́штеник m (svéštenik), клерик m (klerik)
• Manx: cleragh m, agglishagh m, bochilley anmey m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: geistlig m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: свѧщеникъ m (svęštenikŭ)

• Old East Slavic: свѧщеникъ m (svęščenikŭ), свѧщеньникъ m (svęščenĭnikŭ)
• Polish: duchowny (pl) m, kleryk (pl) m
• Portuguese: clérigo (pt) m
• Romanian: cleric (ro) m
• Russian: священнослужи́тель (ru) m (svjaščennoslužítelʹ), свяще́нник (ru) m (svjaščénnik), кли́рик (ru) m (klírik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: духо̀внӣк m, свѐштенӣк m, свѐћенӣк m

  Latin: duhòvnīk (sh) m, svèštenīk (sh) m, svèćenīk m

• Slovak: duchovný m
• Slovene: duhovnik (sl) m
• Spanish: clérigo (es) m
• Swedish: klerk (sv) c
• Ukrainian: священнослужи́тель m (svjaščennoslužýtelʹ), свяще́нник m (svjaščénnyk), духівни́к m (duxivnýk), клі́рик m (klíryk)
• Vietnamese: mục sư (vi)
• Welsh: clerigwr (cy) m

Adjective

cleric (not comparable)

1. (now uncommon) Of or pertaining to the clergy.

   Synonyms: black-collar, clerical; see also Thesaurus:clerical

References

• “cleric, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

Further reading

• “cleric”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “cleric”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “cleric”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Circle, circle

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek κλῆρος (klêros)

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Hellenic *-kos

Ancient Greek -κός (-kós)

Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós)

Ancient Greek κληρῐκός (klērĭkós)bor.

Latin clericuslbor.

Romanian cleric

Learned borrowing from Latin clericus.

Noun

cleric m (plural clerici)

1. cleric

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	cleric	clericul	clerici	clericii
genitive-dative	cleric	clericului	clerici	clericilor
vocative	clericule		clericilor