clerk

[klurk, klahrk]

noun

1. a person employed, as in an office, to keep records, file, type, or perform other general office tasks.

2. a salesclerk.

3. a person who keeps the records and performs the routine business of a court, legislature, board, etc.

4. law clerk.

5. a member of the clergy; ecclesiastic.

6. a lay person charged with various minor ecclesiastical duties.

7. Archaic.

   1. a person who is able to read, or to read and write.

   2. a scholar.

verb (used without object)

1. to act or serve as a clerk.

clerk

/ klɜːrk, klɑːk /

noun

1. a worker, esp in an office, who keeps records, files, etc

2. (in England) a legally qualified person who sits in court with lay justices to advise them on points of law

3. an employee of a court, legislature, board, corporation, etc, who keeps records and accounts, etc

   a town clerk

4. Also called: clerk of the House. a senior official of the House of Commons

5. Also called: clerk in holy orders. a cleric

6. short for salesclerk

7. Also called: desk clerk. a hotel receptionist

8. archaic,  a scholar

verb

1. (intr) to serve as a clerk

Other Word Forms

• clerkish adjective
• clerklike adjective
• clerkship noun
• outclerk noun
• subclerk noun
• subclerkship noun
• underclerk noun
• underclerkship noun
• clerkdom noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of clerk¹

before 1000; Middle English, Old English clerc, variant of cleric < Late Latin clēricus cleric

Word History and Origins

Origin of clerk¹

Old English clerc, from Church Latin clēricus, from Greek klērikos cleric, relating to the heritage (alluding to the Biblical Levites, whose inheritance was the Lord), from klēros heritage

Example Sentences

The fee hike legislation still has to be signed by the mayor and formally published by the city clerk.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Overall, my reaction is that it’s too soon to tell,” said William Baude, a University of Chicago law professor and a former clerk for Roberts.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She went onto play a lonely, middle-aged department store clerk tipped into a relationship with a kinky podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

Read more on BBC

He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Byron White and worked as an aide to then-Sen.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The clerk at the City Pop-Up — rebranded from City Wok — the lone purveyor of Labubus in the area, says the popular dolls are hard to keep in stock, and they’re very expensive because of tariffs.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agent 
• auditor 
• bookkeeper www.thesaurus.com
• cashier 
• employee 
• operator 
• receptionist 
• salesperson 
• secretary 
• teller 
• worker