parson

See also: Parson and pärsōn

English

Etymology

From Middle English persoun, from Anglo-Norman, Old French persone (“parson, person”), from Medieval Latin persona (“parson, person”), from Latin persona (“person”). Doublet of person and persona.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːs(ə)n/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹsən/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)sən
• Hyphenation: par‧son

Noun

parson (plural parsons)

1. An Anglican cleric having full legal control of a parish under ecclesiastical law.

   Synonyms: rector; autem bawler (slang, archaic, rare), autem jet (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant)

   Hypernym: cleric

   Coordinate term: vicar

2. A Protestant minister.

   Hypernyms: minister; cleric

3. (now chiefly historical) A Roman Catholic priest of an independent parish church.

   Hypernyms: priest; cleric

   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 35–37:

     a lewde curate,
     A parson benyfyced
     But nothynge well advysed.

Derived terms

• Fleet parson
• hedge parson
• parsonage
• parson bird
• parson-in-the-pulpit
• parsondom
• Parson Russell
• Parsons Green
• Parson's Heath
• parson's nose
• Parson Trulliber
• squarson

Translations

cleric having full control of a parish

• Bulgarian: енорийски свещеник (enorijski sveštenik)
• Finnish: kirkkoherra (fi)
• French: curé (fr) m, curé paroissial m
• Hungarian: plébános (hu)
• Italian: parroco (it) m
• Spanish: párroco (es) m, cura párroco m

protestant minister

• Arabic: قِسِّيس (ar) m (qissīs)
• Finnish: pappi (fi)
• French: pasteur (fr) m
• Hungarian: lelkész (hu)
• Italian: pastore (it) m
• Plautdietsch: Prädja m
• Spanish: pastor (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} person (cy) m

Anagrams

• Rapson, aprons, aspron

Old French

Noun

parson oblique singular, m (oblique plural parsons, nominative singular parsons, nominative plural parson)

1. Alternative form of persone (in the sense "parson")