chancellor
/ˈt͡ʃænsələ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.13 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A senior secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, sometimes in charge of some area of government such as finance or justice.
noun
A senior secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, sometimes in charge of some area of government such as finance or justice.
British usage
noun
The head of the government in some German-speaking countries.
noun
A senior record keeper of a cathedral; a senior legal officer for a bishop or diocese in charge of hearing cases involving ecclesiastical law.
noun
The head of a university, sometimes purely ceremonial.
noun
The chief judge of a court of chancery (that is, one exercising equity jurisdiction).
American usage
Example Sentences
- "Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster"
- "Lord Chancellor"
- "The 6ᵗʰ daye after, the Duke beyng infourmyd of myne arryvayle, sent his Chancellour to myne inne, desyryng to knowe the cause of my comying tether; […]"
- "We have in the Wiſedome and Dexteritie of, our right truſty and wellbeloved Counſellor, Thomas Lord Elleſmere, and for certen other eſpeciall Cauſes Us moving, have given and graunted unto the ſaid Thomas Lord Elleſmere the Office of our Lord Chauncellor of England, and given Aucthority to the ſaid Lord Elleſmere to heare examyne and determyne Cauſes Matters and Suytes as ſhall happen to bee, as well in our Chauncery as in our Starchamber, like as the Chauncellor of England or Keeper of the Greate Seale of England, […]"
- "But tho' this Family might make an honourable Figure at the Bar, yet it ſeems a little unaccountable how a Chancellor of the Bourbonnois came to be charg'd with the Reformation of the whole French Kingdom."
- "And everyone who'd marry a Ward / Must come to me for my accord, / And in my court I sit all day, / Giving agreeable girls away, / […] / And one for thou—and one for thee— / But never, oh never a one for me! / Which is exasperating, for / A highly susceptible Chancellor!"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kr̥kros Proto-Italic *karkros Proto-Italic *kankros Latin cancer Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin cancellus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Latin cancellārius Old French cancelier Anglo-Norman chauncelerbor. Middle English chaunceler English chancellor From Anglo-Norman or Middle English chaunceler, chanceler, canceler (“chief administrative or executive officer of a ruler; chancellor, secretary; private secretary, scribe; Lord Chancellor of England; officer of the ruler's exchequer; a high administrative or executive officer (for example, a deputy or representative of a bishop; the head of a university)”), from Old French cancelier, chancelier (“chancellor”), from Late Latin cancellārius (“secretary; doorkeeper, porter; usher of a court of law stationed at the bars separating the public from the judges”), from Latin cancellī (plural of cancellus (“grate; bars, barrier; railings”), diminutive of cancer (“grid; barrier”), from Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting an agent of use). Equivalent to chancel + -or. Piecewise doublet of canceler. The word was present as Late Old English canceler, cancheler, from Norman cancheler, but was displaced in the 13th century by the Old French and Anglo-Norman forms mentioned above.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, chaunceler, cancelier, cancellārius, cancellī, *karkros
- Suffix: chancel
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈt͡ʃænsələ/
- British English: /ˈtʃɑːnsələ/