English
Etymology
From lay, ultimately from Greek λα�� (people), + man.
Pronunciation
audio|en-us-layman.ogg|Audio (US)
:Rhymes: Rhymes:English:-eɪm�n|-eɪm�n
Noun
en-noun|laymen
- lay person, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy
- by analogy, someone who is not a professional in a given field
#: Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.
- a common person
- a person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject
#* 2005, w:Plato|Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. w:Stephanus pagination|221d.
#*: should he be held to be just a layman, or does he have some art?
- a generally ignorant person
- lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order
Translations
trans-top|someone who is not an ordained cleric
Afrikaans: leek
Dutch: leek m
Esperanto: laiko
French: laïc
German: Laie m
Hungarian: laikus
trans-mid
Italian: laico, profano m
Portuguese: laico, leigo
Slovak: laik
Spanish: laico, lego
Swedish: lekman
trans-bottom
trans-top|someone who is not a professional in a given field
Dutch: leek m
Esperanto: laiko
Finnish: maallikko
German: Laie m
trans-mid
Hungarian: laikus
Italian: profano m
Slovak: laik, amatér
Spanish: profano
trans-bottom
Derived terms
in layman's terms
Category:English nouns with irregular plurals
fa:layman
fr:layman
io:layman
it:layman
pl:layman
ru:layman
fi:layman
te:layman
vi:layman
zh:layman
| 
