Other forms: priests
A priest is a person authorised to lead worship and give rites. The parish priest, ordained a priest, ask the priest.
In Catholic and Orthodox use a priest is ordained and can celebrate the sacraments; the Church of England uses the word too, alongside vicar and rector, which describe the post rather than the order. Priests in the Latin Church take a vow of celibacy, which most other traditions do not require. Note priesthood; and that the word comes from the Greek for elder, by way of presbyter.
1nounpriestA person authorised to lead worship and give rites.
“The priest led the service and prayed for the sick.”
priest is a religious minister.
Old English preost comes from Latin presbyter, from Greek presbyteros, an elder. Presbyterian comes from the same word taken directly rather than worn down.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Old French
prestre
Ancient Greek
πρεσβύτερος
Latin
presbyter
Old English
preost — priest
Middle English
prest
English, today
priest
Built from
From Middle English prest, preest, from Old English preost (“priest”), from Latin presbyter, from Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος, from πρέσβυς (“elder, older”). Reinforced in Middle English by Old French prestre, also from Latin presbyter. a doublet of presbyter and prester.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA