layman

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Someone who is not a professional in a given field.

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

2. 2
   noun

   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?

3. 3
   noun

   someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person

4. 4
   noun

   Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.

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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