layman

CEFRB2

/ˈleɪmən/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A person without professional knowledge of a particular subject.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A common person.

Examples

  • Much legal language is obscure to a layman.

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

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Someone who is not a professional in a given field.

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

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

More examples

In context

  • Let me explain it to you [[in layman's terms|in layman's terms]].

  • That's a layman's idea.

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

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The technical manual was written for the average blank to easily understand.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).