layman

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
11
Words With Friends
13
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈleɪmən/

Definition of layman

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
See all 6 definitions

noun

  1. Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
  2. (broadly)Someone who is not a professional in a given field.
    “Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.”
    “Let me explain it to you [[in layman's terms|in layman's terms]].”
    “The layman, perhaps, is not fully aware to what extent even the popular reputations of scientists and scholars are made by that class and are inevitably affected by its views on subjects which have little to do with the merits of the real achievements.”
  3. A common person.
  4. 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?”
  5. Lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order.

name

  1. A surname.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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”).

Anagrams of layman

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

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