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layman

[ ley-muhn ]

noun

plural laymen.
  1. a person who is not a member of the clergy; one of the laity.
  2. a person who is not a member of a given profession, as law or medicine.


layman

/ ˈ±ô±ğɪ³¾É™²Ô /

noun

  1. a man who is not a member of the clergy
  2. a person who does not have specialized or professional knowledge of a subject

    science for the layman

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged†2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Gender Note

See -man.
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˜yĞÄvlog History and Origins

Origin of layman1

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; lay 3, man
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

An entire subset of TikTok is titled “The Tea on Why Friendships End on Vacations,†where layman advisers explain why this is such a common issue.

From

He pulled an all-nighter, posting updates about the wind and flames as he scoured publicly available forecast models and government data, interpreting it laymen’s terms for Altadenans.

From

His seductive and affable manner of describing the essence of a budding romance in ±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²Ô’s terms is inviting.

From

Perhaps anyone could guess as much, but what a layman might never know without Stanford’s book is that our busy roads severely circumscribe the territory cougars can roam, leading to isolation and inbreeding.

From

To the layman, a self-propelled howitzer looks like a tank, but it has a bigger, 155mm gun to fire at longer range.

From

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More About Layman

What doesÌı±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²ÔÌımean?

Layman is used in a religious context to refer to a person who is a regular member of a religious congregation and not a member of the clergy—that is, a layman is someone who is not a religious official like a priest.

The term clergy collectively refers to people who have been ordained or otherwise serve as religious leaders or officials, such as priests, rabbis, and nuns. People who are not part of the clergy can be called laypeople or collectively referred to as the laity.

Layman and its plural form laymen specifically refer to men but are often used regardless of gender. However, the truly gender-neutral term layperson is also commonly used.

Layman is perhaps even more commonly used outside of a religious context to refer to a person who is not a member of a particular profession or who is not an expert in or knowledgeable about a particular field. This sense of the word is used in the phrase ±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²Ô’s terms, which means plain language that the average person can understand, as opposed to technical jargon that can only be understood by experts in the topic or those who are already familiar with it.

When someone asks for an explanation in ±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²Ô’s terms, they want it to be as simple and straightforward as possible, so that it can be understood by ±ô²¹²â³¾±ğ²Ô—nonexperts.

Example: She has built a career as a science writer by explaining complex topics in a way that is accessible to the layman.

Where doesÌı±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²ÔÌıcome from?

The first records of the word layman come from the 1100s. The lay in layman is an adjective meaning “belonging to, pertaining to, or performed by the people or laity, as distinguished from the clergy.â€

Lay comes from the Middle English lai, meaning “uneducated†or “not belonging to the clergy.†It ultimately comes from the Greek ±ôÄå¾±°ìó²õ, meaning “of the people†(as in the common people).

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to layman?

  • laymen (plural)

What are some synonyms for layman?

What are some words that share a root or word element with layman?Ìı

What are some words that often get used in discussing layman?

How isÌı±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²ÔÌıused in real life?

Layman is perhaps most commonly used in non-religious contexts. It’s especially common in the phrase ±ô²¹²â³¾²¹²Ô’s terms.

Try usingÌılayman!

Which of the following terms can be used as a synonym of layman?

A. layperson
B. nonexpert
C. member of the laity
D. all of the above

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