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clerk

Syllabification: (clerk)
Pronunciation: /klərk/

Translate clerk | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of clerk

noun

  • 1a person employed in an office or bank to keep records and accounts and to undertake other routine administrative duties:a bank clerk
  • an official in charge of the records of a local council or court:a clerk to the court
  • a lay officer of a cathedral, parish church, college chapel, etc.:a chapter clerk
  • 2 (also desk clerk) a receptionist in a hotel.
  • an assistant in a store; a salesclerk.
  • 3 (also clerk in holy orders) formal a member of the clergy.

verb

[no object]
  • work as a clerk:eleven of those who left college this year are clerking in auction houses

Derivatives

clerkish

adjective

Origin:

Old English cleric, clerc (in the sense 'ordained minister, literate person'), from ecclesiastical Latin clericus 'clergyman' (see cleric); reinforced by Old French clerc, from the same source. clerk (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the early 16th century

clerk in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of clerk in the British & World English dictionary