Noun: layman
| Singular | layman |
| Plural | laymen |
Sample Sentences
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Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.
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Let me explain it to you [[in layman's terms|in layman's terms]].
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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. [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:]
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should he be held to be just a layman, or does he have some art? [2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 221d:]
Nouns inflected like layman
whipman,
slaughterman,
seaman,
sawman,
saxman,
sanman,
headswoman,
kettleman,
given man,
skyman,
Manilaman,
boogyman,
brotherman,
beadman,
transgentleman,
baggageman,
first gentleman,
bedeman,
boothman,
hackneyman, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
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”). See: Middle English Nouns '
layman', Swedish Nouns '
lekman', Icelandic Nouns '
leikmaður'.