different between clergyman vs clerk

English

Etymology

clergy +? -man

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kl?d?im?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kl??d?im?n/
• Hyphenation: cler?gy?man

Noun

clergyman (plural clergymen)

1. An ordained (male) Christian minister, a male member of the clergy.

Hypernyms

• clergyperson

Holonyms

• clergy

Coordinate terms

• clergywoman

Translations

Italian

Noun

clergyman m (invariable)

1. A clergyman's suite of clothes

English

Etymology

From Middle English clerc, from Old English clerc, from Late Latin cl?ricus (“a priest, clergyman, cleric", also generally "a learned man, clerk”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (kl?rikós, “(adj. in church jargon) of the clergy”), from ?????? (klêros, “lot, inheritance,” originally “a shard used in casting lots”). Doublet of cleric.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kl??k/
• (US) enPR: klerk, IPA^(key): /kl?k/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kl??k/, /kl??k/
• Homophones: Clark, claque (some accents)
• Rhymes: -??(r)k, -??(r)k

Noun

clerk (plural clerks)

1. One who occupationally works with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
2. (Quakerism) A facilitator of a Quaker meeting for business affairs.
3. (archaic) In the Church of England, the layman that assists in the church service, especially in reading the responses (also called parish clerk).
   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, act 4 scene 1:

     God save the King! Will no man say, amen? / Am I both priest and clerk? Well then, amen.

4. (dated) A cleric or clergyman (the legal title for clergy of the Church of England is "Clerk in Holy Orders", still used in legal documents and cherished by some of their number).
5. (obsolete) A scholar.
   • 13th century, Traditional carol,

     And all was for an appel, an appel that he toke/As clerkès finden written in their boke.

Derived terms

• law clerk
• mail clerk

Related terms

• clergy
• clergyman
• cleric
• clerical

Translations

Verb

clerk (third-person singular simple present clerks, present participle clerking, simple past and past participle clerked)

1. To act as a clerk, to perform the duties or functions of a clerk
   • 1956, Jean Stafford, "A Reading Problem" in The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1984, p. 332,

     In the winter, they lived in a town called Hoxie, Arkansas, where Evangelist Gerlash clerked in the Buttorf drugstore and preached and baptized on the side.

   The law school graduate clerked for the supreme court judge for the summer.

Further reading

• clerk in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• clerk in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.