dean

See also: Dean, déan, deán, and dèan

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diːn/, [diːn], [dĩːn], enPR: dēn

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophones: dene, 'dine, Dean

Etymology 1

From Middle English den, deen (“dean”), from Anglo-Norman deen and continental Old French deien (modern French doyen), from Latin decānus. Doublet of doyen.

Noun

dean (plural deans)

1. A senior official in a college or university, who may be in charge of a division or faculty (for example, the dean of science) or have some other advisory or disciplinary function (for example, the dean of students).
   • 1995 October, Robert Frost, Richard Poirier, Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (LOA #81) (DE-601)374069697: Library of America series)‎^[1], Library of America, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 357:

     Lucretius versus the Lake Poets ' Nature I loved ; and next to Nature , Art . '
     Dean , adult education may seem silly .
     What of it though ? I got some willy - nilly
     The other evening at your college deanery .
     And grateful for it ( Let's not be facetious!) […]

2. A dignitary or presiding officer in certain church bodies, especially an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop, in charge of a chapter of canons.
3. The senior member of some group of people.

   dean of the diplomatic corps - a country's most senior ambassador

   dean of the House - the longest-serving member of a legislature

   • 1955 October 19, Rex Stout, The Next Witness, Three Witnesses, 94 Bantam, →ISBN, page 67:

     All of the switchboard operators had been parties to it, including Marie Willis. Their dean, Alice Hart, collected […]

Synonyms

• (Head of cathedral chapter): provost

Derived terms

• dean and chapter
• deanery
• deaness
• rural dean

Related terms

• decanal
• doyen (doublet)

Translations

senior official in college or university

• Armenian: դեկան (hy) (dekan)
• Asturian: decanu m
• Bulgarian: декан m (dekan)
• Catalan: degà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 院長／院长 (zh) (yuànzhǎng)

• Czech: děkan (cs) m
• Danish: dekan c
• Dutch: decaan (nl) m, (rare) deken (nl) m
• Esperanto: dekano
• Finnish: dekaani (fi)
• French: doyen (fr) m
• Georgian: დეკანი (deḳani)
• German: Dekan (de) m
• Greek: κοσμήτορας (el) m (kosmítoras)

  Ancient: κοσμήτωρ m (kosmḗtōr)

• Hungarian: dékán (hu)
• Indonesian: dekan (id)
• Italian: decano (it) m
• Khmer: ព្រឹទ្ធបុរស (prœ̆tthôbŏrsâ)
• Norman: douoyen m
• Polish: dziekan (pl) m
• Portuguese: reitor (pt)
• Romanian: decan (ro) m
• Russian: дека́н (ru) m (dekán)
• Slovene: dekan (sl) m
• Spanish: decano (es) m
• Swahili: mudiri (sw)
• Swedish: dekan (sv) c, dekanus c
• Tagalog: dalubpuno, dekano
• Tetum: dekanu
• Thai: คณบดี (th) (ká-ná-bɔɔ-dii)
• Turkish: dekan (tr)

church dignitary

• Bulgarian: главен свещеник (glaven sveštenik)
• Catalan: degà (ca) m
• Danish: domprovst c
• Dutch: deken (nl) m
• Esperanto: dekano
• Finnish: dekaani (fi), tuomiorovasti (fi)
• Friulian: dean m
• German: Dechant (de) m, Dekan (de) m
• Hungarian: esperes (hu), főesperes (hu)
• Italian: decano (it) m
• Middle English: den
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prost m

  Nynorsk: prost m

• Occitan: degan (oc) m
• Polish: dziekan (pl) m
• Portuguese: deão (pt) m, decano m
• Romanian: decan (ro) m
• Russian: благочи́нный (ru) m (blagočínnyj) (head of a deanery)
• Spanish: deán m
• Ukrainian: дека́н m (dekán)
• Venetian: degàn m

senior member of a group

• Catalan: degà (ca) m
• Dutch: deken (nl) m
• Esperanto: dojeno
• Finnish: pää (fi), vanhin (fi)
• French: doyen (fr), doyenne (fr) f
• Hungarian: rangidős (hu), doyen (hu)
• Italian: decano (it) m
• Middle English: den
• Norman: douoyen m
• Polish: dziekan (pl) m
• Thai: คณบดี (th) (ká-ná-bɔɔ-dii)

Verb

dean (third-person singular simple present deans, present participle deaning, simple past and past participle deaned)

1. (intransitive, rare) To serve as a dean.
2. (transitive, Oxbridge, otherwise rare, informal) To send (a student) to see the dean of a college or university.

Etymology 2

Related to den.

Noun

dean (plural deans)

1. (Sussex, chiefly in place names) A hill.

Etymology 3

Noun

dean (plural deans)

1. (Northumbria, chiefly in place names) Alternative form of dene.

Anagrams

• Aden, Dane, Dena, Edna, Enda, Nead, aden-, ande, eDNA, nade

Basque

Noun

dean

1. inessive singular of de

Friulian

Etymology

From Late Latin decānus, from Latin decem (“ten”). Compare Italian decano, Venetian degàn, French doyen.

Noun

dean m (plural deans)

1. (religion) dean
2. doyen

Related terms

• dîs

Galician

Verb

dean

1. inflection of dar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative