lay brother
lay brother noun: a layman who is a member of a religious congregation or monastic order without the intention to become a priest.
Noun
lay brother (plural lay brothers or lay brethren)
- A layman who is a member of a religious congregation or monastic order without the intention to become a priest.
- In feudal days lay brothers were usually uneducated commoners, who did most menial, manual labor while the learned priestly monks held the more spiritual jobs.
- The male branch of the Franciscan family, a community of Lesser Brothers, is made up of men who are both clergy and consecrated laity traditionally called "lay brothers".2010, WHY A LAY BROTHER?, Franciscan Friars
- Synonyms:
- conversus
lay brother meaning in Tamil
lay brother in Tamil
- சமய ஆடவர்
Synonyms of lay brother
Forms of lay brother
| plural | lay brothers |
|---|---|
| plural | lay brethren |
| alternative form (archaic) | lay-brother |
Questions about lay brother
- What does lay brother mean?
- Lay brother means a layman who is a member of a religious congregation or monastic order without the intention to become a priest.
- What is lay brother in Tamil?
- Lay brother in Tamil is சமய ஆடவர். See Lay brother meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is lay brother?
- Lay brother is a noun.
- What is the plural of lay brother?
- The plural of lay brother is lay brothers.
Words near lay brother in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lay brother (page history and authors); lay brother (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “lay brother.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lay_brother. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.