sacristan

From French sacristain, Late Latin sacrista, from Latin sacer. Doublet of sexton.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsækɹɪstən/

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sacristan (plural sacristans)

1. The person who maintains the sacristy and the sacred objects it contains.
   • 1816, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “(please specify the page)”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], →OCLC:

     And hence the custom and law began
     That still at dawn the sacristan,
     Who duly pulls the heavy bell,
     Five and forty beads must tell
     Between each stroke

   • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 3, page 32:

     […] every evening as the temple was closed for the night the sacristan paused: "Pindar to supper with the god!" he cried.

   • 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 10, in Friday's Business‎^[1]:

     The church was looked after by an old sacristan who lived in a cottage on the shore of the lake.

• sacrist
• sacristry
• sacristy

• arcanists

Borrowed from French sacristain, Italian sacristano.

• IPA^(key): /sa.krisˈtan/

sacristan m (plural sacristani)

1. sacristan

   Synonyms: (dated) sacristin; (in the Eastern Orthodox Church) paracliser

• sacristie

• sacru

• “sacristan”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025