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prettygoodworddoyen - n., the senior member of a group; someone considered especially knowledgeable or skillful as the result of long experience.
In use since the 1670s, and as such not, as I've sometimes thought, from Yiddish: from French, from Old French doien, from Late Latin decānus, meaning chief of ten, from which we also get deacon and dean.
ETA: This is the masculine form -- a woman who's the oldest member is a doyenne.
---L.
In use since the 1670s, and as such not, as I've sometimes thought, from Yiddish: from French, from Old French doien, from Late Latin decānus, meaning chief of ten, from which we also get deacon and dean.
ETA: This is the masculine form -- a woman who's the oldest member is a doyenne.
---L.
