clergy
pronunciation
How to pronounce clergy in British English:
UK [ˈklɜːdʒi]
How to pronounce clergy in American English:
US [ˈklɜːrdʒi]
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- Noun:
- clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity)
Word Origin
- clergy (n.)
- c. 1200, clergie "office or dignity of a clergyman," from two Old French words: 1. clergié "clerics, learned men," from Medieval Latin clericatus, from Late Latin clericus (see clerk (n.)); 2. clergie "learning, knowledge, erudition," from clerc, also from Late Latin clericus. Meaning "persons ordained for religious work" is from c. 1300.
Example
- 1. Senior shia clergy have deplored his hardening line .
- 2. Most clergy , he argued , now prefer taking funerals . Perhaps .
- 3. And mr berlusconi is already in bad odour with the clergy over his private life .
- 4. Some thais , though , fear that the buddhist clergy 's standards are slipping .
- 5. Two outstandingly gifted clergy have resigned .