doyen

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The Word of the Day for November 4 is:

doyen    \DOY-un\   noun
    *1 : the senior or most experienced member of a group 
     2 : the oldest example of a category

Example sentence:
     We watched a TV documentary by Jacques Cousteau, the doyen of undersea 
explorers. 

Did you know?
     English picked up "doyen" from French in the 17th century. The French term 
in turn comes from the Late Latin word "decanus," which itself comes from the 
Greek "dekanos," meaning "chief of ten." A "doyen" can be a leader of a group, 
such as a diplomatic corps. In this regard, the word has been used to refer to 
someone who is specifically or tacitly allowed to speak for that group. More 
broadly, a "doyen" refers to a highly skilled and respected veteran of a 
particular field. The feminine form of "doyen" is "doyenne."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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