Commoner vs Layperson - What's the difference?
commoner | layperson |
(common)
A member of the common people who holds no title or rank.
(British) Someone who is not of noble rank.
* Hallam
(British, at Oxbridge universities) An undergraduate who does not hold either a scholarship or an exhibition.
(obsolete, UK, Oxford University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges; at Cambridge called a pensioner.
Someone holding common rights because of residence or land ownership in a particular manor, especially rights on common land.
* Francis Bacon
(obsolete) One sharing with another in anything.
(obsolete) A prostitute.
a person who is not a cleric
one who is not intimately familiar with a given subject or activity
As nouns the difference between commoner and layperson
is that commoner is a member of the common people who holds no title or rank while layperson is a person who is not a cleric.As an adjective commoner
is comparative of common.commoner
English
Etymology 1
Adjective
(head)Usage notes
* The potential for confusion with use of the noun as an adjective, especially in the UK, makes this form less desirable. It is much less commonly used than "more common".Etymology 2
Noun
(wikipedia commoner) (en noun)- All below them [the peers], even their children, were commoners , and in the eye of the law equal to each other.
- Much good land might be gained from forests and from other commonable places, so as always there be a due care taken that the poor commoners have no injury.
- (Fuller)
- (Shakespeare)
layperson
English
Noun
(en-noun)- The book was written for professionals, but an intelligent layperson could understand most of it.