Archbishop

How to spell archbishop

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce archbishop

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does archbishop mean?

1. nounA bishop of the highest rank, presiding over a province or archdiocese.

Archbishop in a sentence

• The archbishop led the cathedral service on Sunday morning.

• The new archbishop was appointed after months of consultation.

Where does archbishop come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word reaches back to two ancient layers. The first element, 'arch-', comes from the Greek arkhi-, meaning 'chief' or 'highest in rank', the same prefix found in 'archangel' and 'architect'. The second element, 'bishop', descends from the Greek episkopos, which literally meant 'overseer', from epi 'over' and skopos 'watcher'; this passed through Latin episcopus and entered early English as 'biscop'. The two were joined in Old English as 'arcebiscop' to name the chief bishop of a province, and the spelling settled into the modern 'archbishop' over the medieval centuries. A useful memory aid is that the 'ch' in 'arch-' is pronounced like the 'ch' in 'church' here, even though in 'archangel' it sounds like a 'k'. Because 'bishop' was already a familiar English word, the compound has stayed phonetically transparent and never picked up the silent letters that trip people up elsewhere.

How the word is built

• arch- (chief, highest)
• bishop (overseer, from Greek episkopos)