bedel
/bɪdˈɛl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.58 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An administrative official at universities in several European countries, often with a policiary function at the time when universities had their own jurisdiction over students.
name
A surname from French.
Example Sentences
- "Oxford today has four bedels, representing Divinity, Law, Medicine, and Arts."
- "Next came the bedels and minor-bedels of all the Faculties, who by some accident were so jumbled together, that it was impossible to determine or arrange any order of precedence.[…] These bedels or greffiers were jolly robustious souls, bending beneath the weight of their ponderous silver maces, and attired in gowns of black, blue, violet, or dark red, each colour denoting the Faculty to which the wearer pertained."
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin pedellus, bedellus, bidellus, from Middle English bedel; cognate with beadle.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: pedellus, bedel