layman

From Middle English layman, lay man, equivalent to lay (“non-clergy”) +‎ man. Cognate with Old Frisian lēkmann, lēkmonn (“layman”), obsolete Dutch leekeman (“layman”), Old High German leihman (“layman”), Danish lægmand (“layman”), Swedish lekman (“layman”), Norwegian lekmann (“layman”), Icelandic leikmaður (“layman”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪmən/

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• Rhymes: -eɪmən

layman (plural laymen)

1. Layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.

   Coordinate terms: cleric, priest

2. (by extension) Someone who is not a professional in a given field.

   Antonym: professional

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

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

   • 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 419:

     The layman, perhaps, is not fully aware to what extent even the popular reputations of scientists and scholars are made by that class and are inevitably affected by its views on subjects which have little to do with the merits of the real achievements.

3. A common person.
4. A person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject.

   Antonyms: expert, specialist

   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 221d:

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

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

   Hypernym: friar

   Coordinate term: monk

• laity

• yalman