parish

C1 Topic:Places & Geography

US /ˈpæɹɪʃ/ UK /ˈpæɹɪʃ/ See IPA manual

Freq #7648

Meanings

1

noun
A local church district with its own church and priest.

The new priest was welcomed warmly by the parish.
2

noun
The people who belong to a local church.

The whole parish gathered for the Christmas service.
3

noun
A small administrative area, often part of a county.

The village forms the most northerly parish in Cornwall.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a local church district... vicarate

2 noun · the people who belong to a... parishioner

3 noun · a small administrative... civil parish

Word family

Forms parishes

Derived forms emparishinterparishlongparishnonparishoutparishparish-pumpparishionerunparished

Related forms parochial

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

parish priest
a priest responsible for the religious life of a parish

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English parisshe, from Old French paroisse (compare the obsolete variant paroch, from Anglo-Norman paroche, parosse), from Late Latin parochia, from Ancient Greek παροικία (paroikía, “a dwelling abroad”).

*weyḱ- Proto-Indo-European parisshe Middle English paroisse Old French parochia la-lat παροικία Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Places & Geography Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# parish

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈpæɹɪʃ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpæɹɪʃ/
**Frequency rank:** 7648

## Meanings
1. A local church district with its own church and priest.
2. The people who belong to a local church.
3. A small administrative area, often part of a county.

## Examples
- The new priest was welcomed warmly by the parish.
- The whole parish gathered for the Christmas service.
- The village forms the most northerly parish in Cornwall.

## Derived Forms
- emparish
- interparish
- longparish
- nonparish
- outparish
- parish-pump
- parishioner
- unparished

## Related Forms
- parochial

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *weyḱ-
- Root: parisshe
- Root: paroisse
- Root: parochia
- Root: παροικία

## Etymology
From Middle English parisshe, from Old French paroisse (compare the obsolete variant paroch, from Anglo-Norman paroche, parosse), from Late Latin parochia, from Ancient Greek παροικία (paroikía, “a dwelling abroad”).

## AI Etymology
Parish comes from Middle English parisshe, from Old French paroisse (compare the obsolete variant paroch, from Anglo-Norman paroche, parosse), from Late Latin parochia, from Ancient Greek παροικία (paroikía, “a dwelling abroad”). The historical chain includes *weyḱ- (Proto-Indo-European), parisshe (Middle English), paroisse (Old French), parochia (Late Latin), and παροικία (Ancient Greek). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as emparish, interparish, longparish, and nonparish and related forms such as parochial. In present use it covers a local church district with its own church and priest, the people who belong to a local church, and a small administrative area, often part of a county.

## Topics
- Places & Geography
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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