clergy

English

Etymology

Attested in the 13th Century CE; from clergie, from Old French clergié (“learned men”), from Latin clericatus, from Latin clericus (“one ordained for religious services”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikos, “of the clergy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈklɜːrdʒi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)dʒi

Noun

clergy (plural clergies)

1. Body of persons, such as ministers, priests and rabbis, who are trained and ordained for religious service.

Derived terms

• clergyman

Related terms

• cleric
• clerical
• clerk

Translations

people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services

• Belarusian: духавенства (be) (duxavénstva) n
• Bulgarian: духовенство (bg) (duhovénstvo) n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神職人員 (cmn), 神职人员 (cmn) (shénzhí rényuán)

• Czech: duchovenstvo (cs) n
• Esperanto: ekleziularo (eo), pastraro (eo)
• Finnish: papisto (fi)
• French: clergé (fr) m

  Old French: clergie

• German: Geistlichkeit (de) f, Klerus (de) m
• Greek: κλήρος (el) (klíros) m, ιερατείο (el) (ierateío) n
• Hungarian: papság (hu)
• Italian: clero (it) m
• Japanese: 聖職者 (ja) (せいしょくしゃ, seishokusha)
• Korean: 성직자 (ko) (seongjikja) (聖職者 (ko))

• Macedonian: свештенство (mk) (svéštenstvo) n
• Maltese: kleru (mt)
• Old French: clergie f
• Polish: duchowieństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: clero (pt) m
• Russian: духовенство (ru) (duxovénstvo) n
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: клер (sh) m, свештенство (sh) n, свећенство (sh) n

  Roman: kler (sh) m, sveštenstvo (sh) n, svećenstvo (sh) n

• Slovak: duchovenstvo (sk) n
• Slovene: duhovščina (sl) f, kler (sl) m
• Spanish: clero (es) m
• Swedish: prästerskap (sv)
• Ukrainian: духовенство (uk) (duxovénstvo) n
• Vietnamese: tư tế (vi)

References

• “clergy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).