doyen
noun /ˈdɔɪən/
/ˈdɔɪən/
(North American English usually dean)
- the most respected or most experienced member of a group or profession
- Richard Dawkins, the doyen of evolutionary biologists
Word Originlate 17th cent.: via French from Old French deien, from late Latin decanus ‘chief of a group of ten’, from decem ‘ten’.