Churchpeople

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who belong to a particular church and attend its services and activities together
2. The members of a religious congregation, regarded collectively as its community of worshippers
3. Those who form the membership of a church, especially the laypeople who worship there regularly

Etymology: "Churchpeople" is simply the plural of "churchperson," so the story belongs to its parts. "Church" traces back to Old English "cirice," which came from Greek "kyriakon," meaning "belonging to the Lord," from "kyrios," "lord." "Person" arrived in English from Old French "persone," from Latin "persona," originally the mask worn by an actor on stage, which is also the source of the word "personality." Put together, the compound describes someone who belongs to a church, a term that makes the community the defining feature of the individual rather than the building or institution. The plural simply gathers those members into a group, as in "the churchpeople gathered after the service."

Synonyms: churchgoers