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”).

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images