Etymograph

English

bishop

Bishop comes from Old English bisċop, from Vulgar Latin (e)biscopus, from Latin episcopus, from Greek ἐπίσκοπος ‘overseer’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐπίσκοπος1‘overseer’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEepiscopus1‘overseer’
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEbiscopus1
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*biskop1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bisċop1‘bishop’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bischop1
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1000bishop1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bishop
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1000, Thorpe's Laws: “Se bisceop biþ gesett... to bisceopgenne cild.”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐπίσκοποςWiktionary, English bishop‘overseer’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEepiscopusWiktionary, English bishop‘overseer’
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEbiscopusWiktionary, English bishop
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*biskopWiktionary, English bishopreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bisċopWiktionary, English bishop‘bishop’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bischopWiktionary, English bishop
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1000bishopWiktionary, English bishop. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1000, Thorpe's Laws: “Se bisceop biþ gesett... to bisceopgenne cild.”

Every English word from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος

Today it means

noun An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bishop”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος / bishop

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