greffier

English

Etymology

French greffier, from Late Latin grafārius, graphiārius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɛfiə(ɹ)/

Noun

greffier (plural greffiers)

1. (obsolete) A registrar or recorder; a notary.
   • c. 1610, Joseph Hall, epistle to Sir Thomas Challoner

     One thing I may not omit, without sinful oversight; a short, but memorable story, which the Greffier of that town, though of different religion, reported to more ears than ours.

   • 1837, William Harrison Ainsworth, “The Rector”, in Crichton, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, page 59:

     These bedels or greffiers were jolly robustious souls, bending beneath the weight of their ponderous silver maces, and attired in gowns of black, blue, violet, or dark red, each colour denoting the Faculty to which the wearer pertained.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin graphiārius (“scribe, secretary”), from graphium (“stylus”). Compare greffe (“clerk's office”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁɛ.fje/, /ɡʁe.fje/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

greffier m (plural greffiers, feminine greffière)

1. (law) clerk of the court; registrar of the court, or similar role
2. (dated, slang) cat, malkin
3. (dated, slang) hag

Further reading

• “greffier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.