Words / D / General

doyen

noun/ˈdɔɪɛn/

C2CEFR level
75/100Rarity: rare
FormalRegister

The most respected and senior expert or practitioner in a particular field.

As the doyen of British bookbinding, he was consulted on every major restoration.

Similar: dean, veteran, elder statesman

Origin: From French doyen 'dean', from Latin decanus.

Topic: mastery in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: mastery