clerk
Meanings
noun
- One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
- A salesclerk; a person who serves customers in a store or market.
- A law clerk.
- An employee at a hotel who deals with guests.
- The chief legal advisor of a legislature or legislative chamber, who is usually also responsible for keeping minutes of sittings.
- A facilitator of a Quaker meeting for business affairs.
- In the Church of England, the layman that assists in the church service, especially in reading the responses (also called parish clerk and Bible clerk).
- A cleric or clergyman (the legal title for clergy of the Church of England is "Clerk in Holy Orders", still used in legal documents and cherished by some of their number).
- A scholar.
verb
- To act as a clerk, to perform the duties or functions of a clerk.
- To assemble information about a patient during their initial assessment by actions such as a taking a detailed medical history and performing a physical examination.
name
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English clerc, from Old English clerc, from Late Latin clēricus (“priest, clergyman, cleric”, also generally “learned man, clerk”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”, adj. in church jargon), from κλῆρος (klêros, “lot, inheritance”, originally “shard used in casting lots”). Doublet of cleric. Compare typologically Russian дьяк (dʹjak) (akin to дья́кон (dʹjákon)).
Synonyms
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Translations
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