# deacon
## English
### Etymology

Inherited from Old English diacon, from Ecclesiastical Latin diāconus, from Ancient Greek διᾱ́κονος (diā́konos, “servant, minister”).

### Pronunciation

* Hyphenation: dea‧con
* enPR: dē'k(ə)n, IPA: /ˈdiːkən/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːkən

### Noun

deacon (plural deacons)
* (Christianity) A designated minister of charity in the early Church (see Acts 6:1-6).
* (Christianity) By extension, a modern day member of a church who handles secular and/or administrative duties in a priest's stead, the specifics of which depends on denomination.
* (Orthodoxy, Catholicism) A clergyman ranked directly below a priest, with duties of helping the priests and carrying out parish work.
* (Protestantism) Free Churches: A lay leader of a congregation who assists the pastor.
* (Protestantism) Anglicanism: An ordained clergyperson usually serving a year prior to being ordained presbyter, though in some cases they remain a permanent deacon.
* (Protestantism) Methodism: A separate office from that of minister, neither leading to the other; instead there is a permanent deaconate.
* (Freemasonry) A junior lodge officer.
* (Mormonism) The lowest office in the Aaronic priesthood, generally held by 12 or 13 year old boys or recent converts.
* (US, animal husbandry) A male calf of a dairy breed, so called because they are usually deaconed (see below).
* (Scotland) The chairman of an incorporated company.

#### Hypernyms

* (various religious senses): cleric

#### Hyponyms

* (Catholic): permanent deacon, transitional deacon

#### Coordinate terms

* deaconess
* (various religious senses): abbé, canon

#### Derived terms

* archdeacon
* deaconal
* deaconate
* deaconess
* deaconhood
* deaconise
* deaconize
* deaconly
* deaconry
* deacon-seat
* deaconship
* hierodeacon
* protodeacon
* subdeacon
* underdeacon

#### Related terms

* diaconal
* diaconate

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* deacon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* diaconate

### Verb

deacon (third-person singular simple present deacons, present participle deaconing, simple past and past participle deaconed)
* (Christianity, music) For a choir leader to lead a hymn by speaking one or two lines at a time, which are then sung by the choir.
* (US, animal husbandry) To kill a calf shortly after birth.
* (US, slang) To place fresh fruit at the top of a barrel or other container, with spoiled or imperfect fruit hidden beneath.
** 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:The blanc mange was lumpy, and the strawberries not as ripe as they looked, having been skilfully 'deaconed'.
** 1902, George Horace Lorimer, Old Gorgon Graham‎:It's like buying a barrel of apples that's been deaconed — after you've found that the deeper you go the meaner and wormier the fruit, you forget all about the layer of big, rosy, wax-finished pippins that was on top.
* (US, slang) To make sly alterations to the boundaries of (land); to adulterate or doctor (an article to be sold), etc.

### Anagrams

* Canedo, Cedano, acnode, canoed