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Added 9 October 2026

parish

/ˈpæɹɪʃ/ noun

Latin root: parochia Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about parish at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

An administrative part of a diocese that has its own church.
The community attending that church; the members of the parish.
An ecclesiastical society, usually not bounded by territorial limits, but composed of those persons who choose to unite under the charge of a particular priest, clergyman, or minister; also, loosely, the territory in which the members of a congregation live.

verb

To place (an area, or rarely a person) into one or more parishes.
To visit residents of a parish.

verb

Pronunciation spelling of perish, representing Mary–marry–merry merger English.

Origin

From Middle English parisshe, from Old French paroisse (compare the obsolete variant paroch, from Anglo-Norman paroche, parosse), from Late Latin parochia, from Ancient Greek παροικία (paroikía, “a dwelling abroad”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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