Archbishop

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃˈbɪʃəp/

Definitions

1. A high-ranking Christian bishop who oversees other bishops and churches in a large region or province
2. A senior ecclesiastical leader in various Christian denominations who administers a jurisdiction and supervises lower-ranking bishops and their congregations
3. An elevated bishop in the Christian faith tasked with guiding and managing multiple dioceses while providing spiritual leadership to priests and their communities

Etymology: The office of archbishop predates the word's English form by centuries, and the word itself was built from Greek pieces that originally had nothing to do with churches. Its ancestor, "arkhiepískopos," combined "arkhi-," meaning "first" or "chief," with "epískopos," literally "overseer," from "epi-" ("over") and "skopein" ("to look at"). A bishop was, in the earliest sense, a watcher or supervisor, and the archbishop was the chief overseer. The word passed into Old English as "arcebiscop," then into Middle English in forms like "erchebischop," with the Greek "arkhi-" arriving through Late Latin "archiepiscopus." The English word has therefore been shaped by at least three languages, and its sound changed considerably along the way, though the Greek sense of "first overseer" survived intact.