Clerical

How to spell clerical

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce clerical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does clerical mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to routine office tasks such as filing, typing, and record-keeping.
2. adjectiveRelating to ordained members of the church, the clergy, or their dress.

Clerical in a sentence

• The new job involves mostly clerical duties like filing and data entry.

• He wore a black shirt with a clerical collar at the service.

• A simple clerical error caused the invoice to be sent twice.

• The bishop reviewed several clerical appointments within the diocese.

Where does clerical come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Late Latin clericus, meaning 'a clergyman' or 'a member of the clergy', which was itself borrowed from the Greek klerikos, 'belonging to the clergy'. The Greek term grew from kleros, which literally meant 'a lot' or 'an inheritance', because in early Christian thought the clergy were considered the portion or inheritance set apart for God's service. In the Middle Ages literacy was concentrated almost entirely among the clergy, so the people who could read, write, and keep records were churchmen, and this is precisely why the everyday office worker came to be called a 'clerk' and the related paperwork became 'clerical'. The adjective clerical entered English in the sixteenth century, at first describing anything to do with the church, and only later widened to cover routine office and record-keeping tasks. The spelling keeps the single -l of cler- and adds the common -ical ending, the same pattern seen in words like surgical and musical.

How the word is built

• cler- (from Latin clericus: clergyman, clerk)
• -ic (adjective)
• -al (adjective)