priest – English noun declension

English noun forms of priest

Noun: priest
Singularpriest
Pluralpriests

Sample Sentences

  • The priest at the Catholic church heard his confession.
  • The Shinto priest burnt incense for his ancestors.
  • The Israelite priests were descended from Moses' brother Aaron.
  • It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers. [1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:]
  • The church was tighening up on matters sexual. Until the middle of the tenth century it had been quite routine for priests to be married. [1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 169:]
  • They flop and struggle, but she unhooks them swiftly, stunning them with a small brass priest. [1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 212:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English prest, preest, from Old English prēost (“priest”), from Late Latin presbyter, from Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros), from πρέσβυς (présbus, “elder, older”). Reinforced in Middle English by Old French prestre, also from Latin presbyter. Doublet of presbyter and prester.
2. * The Tyndale Bible uses native English elder instead. See: Middle English Nouns 'prest', Old English Nouns 'preost', Ancient Greek Nouns 'πρεσβύτερος'.

Verbs referencing "priest"

German Nouns Priester, Dutch Nouns priester.