clerk

American  

[klurk, klahrk] / klɜrk, klɑrk /

noun

• clerks
  plural

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.

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verb (used without object)

1. to act or serve as a clerk.

clerk British  

/ 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

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verb

1. (intr) to serve as a clerk

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clerks
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of clerk

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

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Explanation

A clerk is an office worker who does various paper work and often keeps accounts of money or other details. An office clerk might answer the phone, file papers, or organize computer records. A clerical worker is one kind of clerk, and another is the person behind a counter at a store who rings up sales on a cash register. The clerk at your favorite bookstore might also recommend the best new books. Clerk originally had a religious meaning, from cleric, which meant both "ordained person" and "literate person." Because of this second meaning, clerk came to mean "anyone who can read or write."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clerk clerks

The Los Angeles County office of the registrar-recorder/county clerk has a vote center locator that includes the wait time to cast your ballot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Jolene was released in 1973, and is about the fear she might lose her husband Carl Dean to a red-headed bank clerk who had flirted with him early on in their marriage.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

Dean Logan, the Los Angeles county clerk and recorder, told The Guardian his office refused to review the list, in part because they didn’t consider the USB drive to be secure.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2026

At 24 Debs was elected Terre Haute city clerk, where the extent of his heterodoxy was waiving criminal fines against prostitutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

On my hands and knees I peer around the wall of files and see the clerk returning, carrying a sheet of paper.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

ProPublica didn’t find any association between RTO and higher rates of late ballots in Wisconsin, even though clerks reported delays involving mail-in ballots cast in its state election, held this spring.

From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026

The position involves overseeing and training attorneys, as well as law clerks and summer interns, on misdemeanor and felony case preparation and trial strategy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Also, at five of nine mail processing facilities studied, retail clerks who were postmarking ballots by hand sometimes used stamps with inaccurate dates, according to the report.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

Every Thursday, he played tennis with his three clerks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

For us, there were very few jobs as clerks, policemen, bus drivers, or insurance salesmen.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

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Related Words

• agent
• auditor
• bookkeeper
• cashier
• employee
• operator
• receptionist
• salesperson
• secretary
• teller
• worker

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