diocese

See also: diocèse

English

Alternative forms

• diœcese (archaic)
• diocesse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English diocise, from Old French diocese, from Late Latin diocēsis, from Latin dioecēsis (“district under a governor”), from Ancient Greek διοίκησις (dioíkēsis, “internal administration”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪ.ə.sɪs/, /-siz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəsɪs
• Rhymes: -aɪəsiz

Noun

diocese (plural dioceses)

1. (historical) An administrative division of the later Roman Empire, established by the Herodian tetrarchy.
3. (Christianity) An ecclesiastical territory administered by a bishop.

   Synonym: bishopric

   Hyponym: archdiocese

Derived terms

• undiocesed

Related terms

• archdiocesan
• diocesan
• diocesian
• nullius diœcesis

Translations

administrative division of the Roman Empire

• Bulgarian: диоцез m (diocez)
• Catalan: diòcesi (ca) f
• Finnish: diokeesi
• French: diocèse (fr) m
• Galician: diocese (gl) f
• Irish: deoise f
• Italian: diocesi (it) f
• Polish: diecezja (pl) f
• Portuguese: diocese (pt) f
• Romanian: dioceză (ro) f
• Spanish: diócesis (es) f

region administered by a bishop

• Arabic: أَبْرَشِيَّة f (ʔabrašiyya)
• Armenian: թեմ (hy) (tʻem)
• Azerbaijani: yeparxiya
• Basque: elizbarruti
• Belarusian: епа́рхія f (jepárxija), дыяцэ́зія f (dyjacézija)
• Bulgarian: епа́рхия (bg) f (epárhija)
• Catalan: diòcesi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教區 / 教区 (zh) (jiàoqū)

• Czech: diecéze f
• Danish: bispedømme (da) n, stift n (formal)
• Dutch: bisdom (nl), diocees (nl) n, diocese (nl) f
• Esperanto: episkopujo, diocezo
• Estonian: piiskopkond
• Faroese: biskupsdømi n
• Finnish: hiippakunta (fi)
• French: diocèse (fr) m, éparchie (fr) f
• Galician: diocese (gl) f
• German: Diözese (de) f, Bistum (de) n, Eparchie f
• Greek: επισκοπή (el) f (episkopí)
• Greenlandic: biskoppeqarfik
• Hungarian: püspökség (hu)
• Icelandic: biskupsdæmi n
• Ido: diocezo (io)
• Indonesian: keuskupan (id), dioses (id)
• Irish: deoise f
• Italian: diocesi (it) f
• Japanese: 教区 (ja) (きょうく, kyōku)
• Korean: 교구(敎區) (ko) (gyogu)
• Latvian: diecēzē f
• Lithuanian: vyskupija f
• Macedonian: епархија f (eparhija)
• Middle English: diocise
• Norman: dgiocèse m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bispedømme n

  Nynorsk: bispedøme n, bispedømme n

• Polish: diecezja (pl) f
• Portuguese: diocese (pt) f
• Romanian: dioceză (ro) f
• Russian: епа́рхия (ru) f (jepárxija), диоце́з (ru) m (diocéz)
• Sami:

  Skolt Sami: aa´rhelkå´dd

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дијецеза f, епархија f

  Latin: dijeceza (sh) f, eparhija (sh) f

• Slovak: diecéza f
• Slovene: dieceza f, škofija (sl) f
• Spanish: diócesis (es) f
• Swahili: dayosisi
• Swedish: stift (sv) n
• Tagalog: diyosesis (tl)
• Turkish: başpiskoposluk (tr)
• Udi: тем (tem)
• Ukrainian: єпа́рхія (uk) f (jepárxija), діоце́з m (diocéz), дієце́зія f (dijecézija)
• Vietnamese: giáo phận (vi), giáo khu (vi) (教區)
• Welsh: esgobaeth, esgobaethau pl

See also

• parish

Galician

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δῐοίκησῐς (dĭoíkēsĭs), through Latin dioecēsis.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /djɔˈθɛse/ [d̪jɔˈθɛ.s̺ɪ]

• IPA^(key): (standard) /djɔˈθɛse/ [d̪jɔˈθɛ.s̺ɪ]
• IPA^(key): (seseo) /djɔˈsɛse/ [d̪jɔˈsɛ.sɪ]

• Rhymes: -ɛse
• Hyphenation: dio‧ce‧se

Noun

diocese f (plural dioceses)

1. (historical) diocese (administrative district in some ancient Roman provinces)
2. (Christianity) diocese (ecclesiastical territorial division subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop or of his legitimate substitute)

Further reading

• “diocese”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “diocese”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “diocese”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “diocese”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “diocese”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “diocese”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δῐοίκησῐς (dĭoíkēsĭs), through Latin dioecēsis.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.oˈsɛ.zi/ [d͡ʒɪ.oˈsɛ.zi], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjoˈsɛ.zi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.oˈsɛ.zi/ [d͡ʒɪ.oˈsɛ.zi], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjoˈsɛ.zi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒi.oˈsɛ.ze/ [d͡ʒɪ.oˈsɛ.ze], (faster pronunciation) /d͡ʒjoˈsɛ.ze/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /djuˈsɛ.zɨ/

• Rhymes: -ɛzi, -ɛzɨ
• Hyphenation: di‧o‧ce‧se

Noun

diocese f (plural dioceses)

1. (historical) diocese (administrative district in some ancient Roman provinces)

   Synonym: sé

2. (Christianity) diocese (ecclesiastical territorial division subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop or of his legitimate substitute)

Further reading

• “diocese”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “diocese”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “diocese”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026