layman

English

Etymology

From Middle English lay +‎ man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪmən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪmən

Noun

layman (plural laymen)

1. Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.
2. (by extension) Someone who is not a professional in a given field.

   Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.

   Let me explain it to you in layman's terms.

3. A common person.
4. A person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 221d.

     should he be held to be just a layman, or does he have some art?

5. A generally ignorant person.
6. Lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order.

Antonyms

• expert
• specialist
• professional

Derived terms

• in layman's terms

Related terms

• laity

Translations

someone who is not an ordained cleric

• Afrikaans: leek
• Bulgarian: мирянин (bg) (mirjanin)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 俗家 (zh) (sújiā)

• Czech: laik m
• Danish: lægmand c, lægfolk c pl
• Dutch: leek (nl) m
• Esperanto: laiko
• Finnish: maallikko (fi)
• French: laïc (fr) m
• German: Laie (de) m
• Greek: λαϊκός (el) m (laïkós)
• Hungarian: laikus (hu)
• Icelandic: leikmaður m
• Irish: tuata m, neamheaglaiseach m
• Italian: laico (it), profano (it) m
• Japanese: 俗人 (ぞくじん, zokujin)

• Manx: theayagh m
• Maori: reimana
• Middle English: lay man, lewed man
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lekmann m

  Nynorsk: lekmann m

• Old English: lǣwed m
• Polish: laik (pl) m
• Portuguese: laico (pt), leigo (pt)
• Russian: миря́нин (ru) m (mirjánin)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: световњак m, ла̀ик m

  Roman: svetovnjak (sh) m, làik (sh) m

• Slovak: laik
• Spanish: laico (es) m, lego (es) m
• Swedish: lekman (sv)
• Tibetan: མི་སྐུ (mi sku)

someone who is not a professional in a given field

• Bulgarian: любител (bg) m (ljubitel), лаик (bg) m (laik)
• Czech: laik m
• Danish: lægmand c, lægfolk c pl
• Dutch: leek (nl) m
• Esperanto: laiko
• Finnish: maallikko (fi)
• French: profane (fr) m or f
• German: Laie (de) m
• Greek: ερασιτέχνης (el) m (erasitéchnis), ερασιτέχνις (el) f (erasitéchnis)
• Hebrew: הדיוט‎ (he) m (hedyot)
• Hungarian: laikus (hu)
• Icelandic: leikmaður m
• Irish: duine gan foghlaim m, gnáthdhuine m
• Italian: profano (it) m

• Macedonian: лаик m (laik)
• Manx: theayagh m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lekmann m

  Nynorsk: lekmann m

• Polish: laik (pl) m
• Portuguese: profano (pt) m, leigo (pt) m
• Russian: люби́тель (ru) m (ljubítelʹ), дилета́нт (ru) m (diletánt), неспециали́ст (ru) m (nespecialíst), профа́н (ru) m (profán)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̀ик m

  Roman: làik (sh) m

• Slovak: laik ?, amatér ?
• Spanish: profano (es) m, lego (es) m, aficionado (es) m
• Swedish: lekman (sv) ?