dean

See also: Dean, déan, deán, and dèan

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diːn/
• IPA^(key): [dĩːn], enPR: dēn (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)
• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophone: dene

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman deen, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French deien (which became doyen in modern French), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin decānus.

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).
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, Rex Stout, "The Next Witness", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →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

Related terms

• decanal
• doyen

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), 院长 (zh) (yuànzhǎng)

• 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, Dekanin f
• Greek: κοσμήτορας (el) m (kosmítoras)

  Ancient: κοσμήτωρ m (kosmḗtōr)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: dékán (hu)
• Indonesian: dekan (id)
• 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
• Swedish: dekan (sv) c, dekanus c
• Tagalog: dalubpuno, dekano
• 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: kirkkoherra (fi)
• Friulian: dean m
• Italian: decano (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prost m

  Nynorsk: prost m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Occitan: degan m
• Portuguese: deão (pt) m, decano m
• Romanian: decan (ro) m
• Russian: благочинный (ru) m (blagochinnyj) (head of a deanery)
• Spanish: deán m
• Venetian: degàn m

senior member of a group

• Catalan: degà (ca) m
• Dutch: deken (nl) m
• Esperanto: dojeno
• Finnish: pää (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: doyen (fr), doyenne (fr) f
• Italian: decano (it) m
• Norman: douoyen 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, rare, informal) To send (a student) to see the dean of a university.

Etymology 2

Related to den.

Noun

dean (plural deans)

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

Anagrams

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

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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

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Galician

Verb

dean

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of dar