clergy

English

Etymology

From Middle English clergie (attested in the 13th century), from Old French clergie (“learned men”), from Late Latin clēricātus, from Latin clēricus (“one ordained for religious services”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”). Equivalent to cleric +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklɜːdʒi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈklɝd͡ʒi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒi

Noun

clergy (usually uncountable, plural clergies)

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

   Today we brought together clergy from the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformed traditions for ecumenical dialogue.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   • 2019 March 3, Dakin Andone, “Fractured after vote against LGBT clergy, weddings, United Methodists face possible split”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     After years of debate, hundreds of United Methodists from all over the world gathered in St. Louis last week to settle the denomination’s stance on LGBT clergy and same-sex weddings.

Derived terms

• anticlergy
• benefit of clergy
• black clergy
• clergical
• clergyable
• clergyism
• clergylike
• clergyman
• clergyperson
• clergywoman
• nonclergy
• secular clergy

Related terms

• cleric
• clerical
• clerisy
• clerk

Translations

people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services

• Arabic: إكْلِيرُوس (ar) (ʔiklīrūs)
• Belarusian: духаве́нства n (duxavjénstva)
• Bulgarian: духове́нство n (duhovénstvo), клир m (klir)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神職人員 / 神职人员 (zh) (shénzhí rényuán), 圣职者 (shèngzhízhě), 聖職者 / 圣职者 (shèngzhízhě)

• Czech: duchovenstvo (cs) n
• Dutch: geestelijkheid (nl) f, clerus (nl) m
• Esperanto: ekleziularo, pastraro
• Finnish: papisto (fi)
• French: clergé (fr) m

  Old French: clergie

• Galician: clero (gl) m
• Georgian: სამღვდელოება (samɣvdeloeba)
• German: Geistlichkeit (de) f, Klerus (de) m
• Greek: κλήρος (el) m (klíros), ιερατείο (el) n (ierateío)
• Hungarian: papság (hu)
• Irish: cléir f
• Italian: clero (it) m
• Japanese: 聖職者 (ja) (せいしょくしゃ, seishokusha)
• Kazakh: діни адам (dıni adam), дін басы (dın basy)
• Korean: 성직자(聖職者) (seongjikja)
• Macedonian: свештенство n (sveštenstvo), клир m (klir), клер m (kler)
• Maltese: kleru
• Manx: clere f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: geistlighet (no) m or f, presteskap n

  Nynorsk: presteskap n

• Old French: clergie f
• Polish: duchowieństwo (pl) n, kler (pl) m
• Portuguese: clero (pt) m
• Romanian: cler (ro) n
• Russian: духове́нство (ru) n (duxovénstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: clèir f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: клер m, свештенство n, свећенство n

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

• Slovak: duchovenstvo n
• Slovene: duhovščina (sl) f, kler m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: klerus m

  Upper Sorbian: klerus m

• Spanish: clero (es) m
• Swedish: prästerskap (sv)
• Tagalog: klero
• Ukrainian: духове́нство n (duxovénstvo), причт m (pryčt)
• Vietnamese: tư tế, hàng giáo sĩ, tăng lữ (vi)
• Welsh: clerigaeth f

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “clergy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.