doyen
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doyen
- /ˈdɔɪ.ən/
- /dɔɪˈɛn/
- /dwɑˈjæ̃/
Rhymes with -ɔɪən, -ɛn
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French doyen, from Late Latin decānus, from Latin decem. Compare the doublet dean.
noun doyens
- A commander in charge of ten men.
- The senior, or eldest male member of a group. At every turn, Collyers's aggressive new management in London was out-maneuvering and out promoting the double doyens of the rarefied art auction world. Old-timers at Collyers referred to Christie's and Sotheby's as “the Cow and the Sow,” lumping them together in frequent attitudes of disdain, in an
- A leading light, or exemplar of a particular practice or movement. Unlike the latter, however, Shifu's seriousness allowed no compromise; his criticism of Zhang ji even brought him into conflict with Wu Zhihui, one of the doyens of anarchism in China.
Translations
Every language
noun (obsolete) a commander
| Русский | дуайе́н duajjén |
|---|
noun the senior member
| 日本語 | 元老 genrō, 長老 chōrō |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 老資格 /老资格 lǎozīgé, 元老 yuánlǎo |
| Français | doyen |
| Deutsch | Altmeister |
| Italiano | decano |
| Русский | старе́йшина staréjšina, старшина́ staršiná |
noun (colloquial) a leading light
| Deutsch | Lichtgestalt, Wortführer |
|---|---|
| Русский | све́точ svétoč |
Talk about this word "doyen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/doyen. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. doyen. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/doyen "doyen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/doyen.Cite this
@misc{doyen_2026,
title = {doyen},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/doyen},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
