barrister

Etymology

It is formed from English bar + -ster,^[2][3][4] from bar in its legal sense,^[2][5] though the middle part of the word is obscure.^[2][6] Merriam-Webster analyses it as bar with a linking -i- and -ster,^[4] and the OED notes that it was formerly written “-ester” and “-aster” and that the present “-ister” may follow words such as chorister and sophister, although there is no earlier “barrist”.^[6] Ayto and the ODE think it was modelled on minister,^[5][7] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford on obsolete legister, a lawyer, or on minister,^[8][9] and the American Heritage Dictionary takes it as probably a blend of bar and legister.^[10] Weekley compares legistre and its Latin form legista.^[11] The OED adds that bar could also be French barre or Medieval Latin barra, and that the 16th-century Latin barrasterius cited by Spelman was probably formed from the English word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A student of law who has been called to the bar and may plead as an advocate in the superior courts: about 1545, in a return to Henry VIII on the state of the Inns of Court.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The bar of the name was first a partition in the Inns of Court that separated the senior members from the students, which students passed, figuratively, when they qualified;^[5][11] Weekley notes that the name is now linked with the bar of a court of law instead.^[11] Early use distinguished inner, utter and vacation barristers, all now obsolete;^[6] Johnson (1755), quoting Blount, explained that outer barristers pleaded outside the bar, while inner barristers, such as the benchers and the king's counsel, pleaded within it.^[12] A revising barrister was appointed to revise the lists of voters.^[6] In Canada the word is used of a lawyer who pleads in court, and in the United States it is a less common word for any lawyer.^[13][9]

Timeline

• c. 1545 – a lawyer called to the bar, in a return on the Inns of Court.^[6]
• before 1547 – inner and utter barrister.^[6]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as a person qualified to plead in the courts of justice.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. In England and Wales and some other countries, a lawyer who has been called to the bar and may plead in the higher courts, as distinct from a solicitor: The barrister rose to cross-examine the witness.^[13][4][9]
2. In Canada, a lawyer who pleads in court.^[13]
3. (US) A lawyer or attorney.^[13][4][9]

Related words

• bar
• solicitor
• chorister
• minister

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins