archdiocese

Etymology

It is formed from English arch- + diocese,^[2][3][4][5] with the prefix meaning "chief".^[2] The second part is from Old French diocese, from Late Latin diocesis, at first a governor's jurisdiction in the Roman Empire and later, in Church Latin, a bishop's, which came from Greek, where it meant government, administration and originally housekeeping.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The see or jurisdiction of an archbishop: 1762 in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[2][4] Dictionary.com dates it to 1835–45, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate to 1844.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1762 – the diocese of an archbishop.^[2][4] The OED's first quotation is from 1845, in John Lingard's history of the Anglo-Saxon church.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The diocese of an archbishop; the district under an archbishop's jurisdiction.^[7][4][8][3]

Word family

• archdiocesan

Related words

• archbishop
• diocese

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins