deacon

See also: Deacon

English

Etymology

From Old English diacon, from Ecclesiastical Latin diaconus, from Ancient Greek διᾱ́κονος (diā́konos, “servant, minister”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: dea‧con
• enPR: dē'k(ə)n, IPA^(key): /ˈdiːkən/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkən

Noun

deacon (plural deacons)

1. (Christianity) A designated minister of charity in the early Church (see Acts 6:1-6).
2. (Christianity) By extension, a modern day member of a church who handles secular and/or administrative duties in a priest's stead, the specifics of which depends on denomination.
3. (Orthodoxy, Catholicism) A clergyman ranked directly below a priest, with duties of helping the priests and carrying out parish work.
4. (Protestantism) Free Churches: A lay leader of a congregation who assists the pastor.
5. (Protestantism) Anglicanism: An ordained clergyman usually serving a year prior to being ordained presbyter, though in some cases they remain a permanent deacon.
6. (Protestantism) Methodism: A separate office from that of minister, neither leading to the other; instead there is a permanent deaconate.
7. (Freemasonry) A junior lodge officer.
8. (Mormonism) The lowest office in the Aaronic priesthood, generally held by 12 or 13 year old boys or recent converts.
9. (US, animal husbandry) A male calf of a dairy breed, so called because they are usually deaconed (see below).
10. (Scotland) The chairman of an incorporated company.

Hypernyms

• (various religious senses): cleric

Hyponyms

• (Catholic): permanent deacon, transitional deacon

Coordinate terms

• deaconess

Derived terms

• archdeacon
• deaconal
• deaconate
• deaconess
• deaconize
• deaconry
• deacon-seat
• deaconship
• hierodeacon
• protodeacon
• subdeacon

 

Related terms

• diaconal
• diaconate

Translations

a designated minister of charity in the early Church

• Afrikaans: diaken
• Armenian:

  Old Armenian: սարկաւագ (sarkawag)

• Belarusian: дыя́кан m (dyjákan)
• Bulgarian: дя́кон (bg) m (djákon)
• Catalan: diaca (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎠᏯᏙᎯᎯ (ayadohihi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 執事牧師／执事牧师 (zhíshì mùshī), 執事／执事 (zh) (zhíshì)

• Danish: diakon
• Dutch: diaken (nl)
• Esperanto: diakono
• Finnish: diakoni (fi)
• French: diacre (fr) m
• German: Diakon (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 m (diakaunus)
• Greek: διάκονος (el) m (diákonos)

  Ancient: διάκονος m (diákonos)

• Indonesian: diakon (id), diaken (id)
• Italian: diacono (it)
• Japanese: 執事 (ja) (しつじ, shitsuji)
• Korean: 부제 (ko) (buje) (in Catholic Church), 보제 (boje) (in Orthodox Church)
• Latin: diaconus m
• Macedonian: ѓа́кон m (ǵákon)
• Maltese: djaknu
• Maori: rīkona
• Norman: diacre m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diakon (no) m

  Nynorsk: diakon m

• Polish: diakon (pl) m
• Portuguese: diácono (pt) m
• Romanian: diacon (ro) m
• Russian: дья́кон (ru) m (dʹjákon), диа́кон (ru) m (diákon)
• Spanish: diácono (es) m
• Swedish: diakon (sv)
• Turkish: diyakoz (tr)
• Ukrainian: дия́кон m (dyjákon)
• Vietnamese: phó tế (vi) (Catholic), chấp sự (vi) (Protestant)

a clergyman ranked directly below a priest

• Arabic: شَمَّاس m (šammās)
• Armenian: սարկավագ (hy) (sarkavag)

  Old Armenian: սարկաւագ (sarkawag)

• Bulgarian: дя́кон (bg) m (djákon)
• Catalan: diaca (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 執事／执事 (zh) (zhíshì), 助祭 (zhùjì), 輔祭／辅祭 (fǔjì)

• Czech: jáhen (cs) m, diákon (cs) m
• Danish: diakon c
• Dutch: diaken (nl) m
• Esperanto: diakono
• Finnish: diakoni (fi)
• French: diacre (fr) m
• German: Diakon (de) m
• Indonesian: diakon (id), diaken (id)
• Irish: deagánach m
• Italian: diacono (it)
• Japanese: 輔祭 (ほさい, hosai) (in Orthodox Church), 助祭 (ja) (じょさい, josai) (in Catholic Church), 執事 (ja) (しつじ, shitsuji) (in Anglicanism)
• Korean: 부제 (ko) (buje) (in Catholic Church), 보제 (boje) (in Orthodox Church)
• Latin: diaconus m
• Macedonian: ѓа́кон m (ǵákon)
• Maltese: djaknu
• Maori: rīkona
• Norman: diacre m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diakon (no) m

  Nynorsk: diakon m

• Persian: شماس (fa) (šammâs)
• Portuguese: diácono (pt) m
• Romanian: diacon (ro) m
• Russian: дья́кон (ru) m (dʹjákon), диа́кон (ru) m (diákon)
• Spanish: diácono (es) m
• Swahili: shemasi
• Tagalog: diyakono
• Vietnamese: phó tế (vi) (Catholic), chấp sự (vi) (Protestant), trợ tế (rare), thầy sáu (vi) (Catholic, dated)

lay leader of a Protestant congregation

• Catalan: diaca (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 執事／执事 (zap¹ si⁶)

  Mandarin: 執事／执事 (zh) (zhíshì)

• Dutch: diaken (nl) m
• Finnish: diakoni (fi)
• French: diacre (fr) m, diaconesse (fr) f
• German: Diakon (de) m
• Icelandic: djákni (is)
• Indonesian: diaken (id)
• Italian: diacono (it)
• Japanese: 執事 (ja) (しつじ, shitsuji)
• Korean: 집사 (ko) (jipsa)
• Maori: rīkona
• Norman: diacre m
• Plautdietsch: Eltesta m
• Portuguese: diácono (pt) m
• Romanian: diacon (ro) m

a junior Lodge officer

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} diakono

See also

• deacon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• diaconate

Verb

deacon (third-person singular simple present deacons, present participle deaconing, simple past and past participle deaconed)

1. (Christianity, music) For a choir leader to lead a hymn by speaking one or two lines at a time, which are then sung by the choir.
2. (US, animal husbandry) To kill a calf shortly after birth.
3. (US, slang) To place fresh fruit at the top of a barrel or other container, with spoiled or imperfect fruit hidden beneath.
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:

     The blanc mange was lumpy, and the strawberries not as ripe as they looked, having been skilfully 'deaconed'.

   • 1902, George Horace Lorimer, Old Gorgon Graham‎^[1]:

     It's like buying a barrel of apples that's been deaconed — after you've found that the deeper you go the meaner and wormier the fruit, you forget all about the layer of big, rosy, wax-finished pippins that was on top.

4. (US, slang) To make sly alterations to the boundaries of (land); to adulterate or doctor (an article to be sold), etc.

Anagrams

• Canedo, Cedano, acnode, canoed